What if Things Weren't the Same?
by Umi-chan3
Summary: AU fic. What if the Knights had read the Rayearth manga before going to Cephiro? Would they do things differently?
1. Default Chapter

**__**

What If Things Weren't the Same?

Chapter One: Discovery

Umi was just lounging. Her legs were spread along her bed in odd positions and her long blue hair fell like a fan beneath her and onto her pillow. She was looking at the ceiling and thinking to herself, 'What to do, what to do?'

Suddenly, she jumped up and a grin spread across her face, "I know! I'll go shopping!" With this in mind she bounded out of the room and called for a driver to the mall. She called a few of her friends beforehand, but they were busy so she opted to go alone. 'Better to go alone than not go at all,' she thought to herself cheerily as they drove toward a nearby shopping mall.

§§§~~~

Fuu was walking through the park and looking at all the beauty around her, thinking that she should probably start her chemistry project. It was due in two weeks. She was such a procrastinator. 'Just one more trip around and I'll go home and start it,' she assured herself and was satisfied. 

§§§~~~

The wooden clangs made her teeth rattle, but she was winning all the same. "Got you Kakeru!" Hikaru shouted triumphantly as she threw her brother's sword to the ground. "I win!"

"Man Hikaru," Kakeru sighed, and she grinned and bounded out. 

"Hey Hikaru?" Maseru grinned at her as she opened up the refrigerator looking for something to eat, that match had really worn her out. 

"Hai?" she inquired absently.

"Check this out," he showed her a book of some sort, and she approached and looked at it. 

§§§~~~

She walked through the mall with at least two bags on each arm and stopped when she saw a display in the comic book store. She stood there and stared at the image, blinking rapidly. She put a hand to her head and tried to guess why the person on that cover looked exactly like her.

"Umi!" some girls giggled behind her, and she turned and looked at them.

"Oh hey guys!" she called. "So you finally made it!"

"Yeah, my parents wanted me to clean my room first," one of them muttered and glared. 

"I had to pick up my check from work," another answered, and Umi nodded and laughed. She wondered what it would be like to have to clean your room and work and…'oh well, not my problem,' she thought.

"Hello, earth to Umi?" 

"Oh, gomen," she blushed, and they looked at her.

"Why are you standing in front of the comic book store?" the first girl looked disgusted.

"Oh, I uh…" Umi pointed to the display, but the book was gone. "What?"

"Please don't tell me you were thinking about going in there," the second girl scoffed. 

"N-no," Umi protested and began to walk with them.

An hour later when they were gone she ran back to the store and asked the man at the front counter. "There was a comic out in the display about an hour ago, there was a girl on the cover that looked a lot like me."

"Oh yeah," he responded and nodded. "We just changed that, weekly rotation."

"Well, can I get the comic?" she demanded.

"Of course, it's called Magic Knight Rayearth, it's right over there," he pointed, and she walked over and looked at six books. She picked them up and flipped through the pages, the girl looked, and to her horror, acted just like her. "I don't understand."

"Umi…" a voice called, and her eyes widened. Did that book just call her? 

She grabbed the six editions and paid with her father's credit card. The man thanked her, and she shoved the bag into another bag with a new sweater. She looked around to see if anyone had just seen her and sprinted quickly home.

§§§~~~

Fuu watched the people around her and smiled. One boy ran into her, and he glared and shouted at her then walked away. "Gomen," she mumbled and looked down. She saw that he had dropped something and picked it up, "Sir!" she called, but he was already in a car with one of his friends and driving away. "Oh dear," she mumbled and looked at the cover. 

She almost dropped it when she saw what she held, the girl on the front looked exactly like her. "What?" she whispered and began to flip through the pages. She then realized that this was a series, and she had missed the first few books. 

Intrigued and wanting to know more, she headed toward the local library.

"Hello Fuu," the librarian smiled warmly, and Fuu smiled back. She handed the comic to the librarian who frowned and shook her head.

"Fuu, these will rot your brain," she shook a finger at her and led her to the comic section of the library.

"I know," Fuu smiled back, "It's for a friend."

"Oh, okay then," she pointed out the ones she was looking for and sat on the floor and red through the first series, then checked out the last two books of the second series, along with the one she had found. 

With the bag in her hand, she walked from the library and hoped that people didn't get an opinion about her that she was slacking or procrastinating on her chemistry project. 

§§§~~~

"Doesn't she look like you?" Maseru asked Hikaru who nodded numbly. She did look _exactly_ like Hikaru. "A friend brought them over, this is my last one, you can read them if you want. You'd like them; it's about three girls who get transported to another word and fight to save it. It's full of all kinds of action and adventure and even a little romance."

Hikaru nodded again and ran up to his room to fetch the other books. 

For a long time she just stared at the girl on the book that looked just like her. It gave her shivers, and she opened the cover of the book and began to read. As she did it seemed as if the world was coming alive, as if she had actually been there. Why did this seem so familiar? 

The thought made her skin tingle, "Hikaru…" the book seemed to call, and she dropped it like hot fire.

§§§~~~

When Umi got home she crept up to her room only to be greeted by her boyfriend. She let out a small squeak then demanded furiously, "How did you get up here?"

"Your parents let me up," he answered plainly. "What good did you get?"

"A new sweater and a few new shirts, usual," Umi smiled.

He grinned and caught her hands, wrapping one hand around her waist. He pulled the bag from her hand and was about to kiss her, but was stopped by the weight of it. 

"This doesn't feel like a few shirts and stuff," he informed her and opened the bag.

She snatched it out of his hands as he pulled out one of the comics. He began to laugh, and she glared. "What?" she demanded.

"No wonder you're being so secretive!" he laughed and fell onto her bed, laughing hysterically.

"It's not funny!" Umi whined.

"Oh but it is!"

"Out!" Umi ordered and pushed him from the room, grabbing the book from his hands as she did. "Out!"

"I'll leave you with your reading then," he wiped tears from his eyes and walked from the room, "and call you later."

She slammed the door behind her and threw the book on the ground, "Stupid book," she muttered, but couldn't help opening it and feeling drawn to it. 

§§§~~~

Fuu went home and said hello to her parents and then walked upstairs to her room and opened the books. She sat down on her bed and stared at the picture on the last cover, then turned to the first book and opened it. 

She soon found herself blushing at the man who seemed to be hopelessly in love with the character that looked like her and had her name. She found it odd but somehow mysterious and compelling, and it wasn't long until she was completely lost in the series. She felt as if she was the character, and she had lived all these things and done this and that and saved the world. She felt as if she had done it all, and it made her proud and strong. When she finished the last page and set the book down she did it with a wistful movement and a heavy sigh.

She thought to herself how amazing it would be to be that girl and smiled impishly. In her dreams she dreamt of the other realm and a Prince and a Rune-God and how she was the Magic Knight of Wind. In her dreams she heard his voice.

'Fuu-chan…'

'Ferio!' she called back as if she knew him from long ago.

'You're coming back to me,' a smile spread across his face, and she laughed and ran to him. Before she could reach him though a dark hole came from beneath her and she fell into the pit, screaming and trying to reach him. 'Fuu-chan!'

§§§~~~

Hikaru walked and swung her sword while she read the comic. This girl looked like her and acted like her and had her name. That couldn't be a coincidence could it? 

No, no definitely not.

Then what? She shook her head and finished reading. When she did she put it on her bed and stared at it as she did a kendo warm-up, never taking her eyes off the book.

"Hikaru…" it called and she picked it up and flipped through the pages, as if looking for something. 

"What am I doing?" she put a hand to her head and sat down. She curled up under the blankets and stared at her wall for a long time until she drifted into sleep. She was met with a deep pair of brown eyes.

'Hikaru, I'm up, you can come now,' he called to her, and she laughed and ran to him. 'Lantis misses you terribly.'

'Lantis,' her heart stopped. 'Eagle, is that you?'

He smiled and offered a hand. She ran to take it but a pit opened up in the floor beneath her, and she tumbled in. 

'Hikaru!'

§§§~~~

"So maybe I'm crazy, I'm still the same right?" Umi asked as she paced. Finally, she could take it no longer and picked up the book. She read through them all and just stared in wonder because it felt somehow oddly familiar.

She remembered feeling that gentle caress and the heat on his cheeks. She remembered laughing and playing with her best friends, somehow, deep down she remembered it all. When she finished, she lay down and shed a few tears because she wished that that could be her. 

'Umi,' someone called in her sleep. 'Umi, come home to us.'

'Clef?' Umi asked softly, 'Clef is that you?'

'I'm here Umi, it's time for you to come home and remember,' he called out. 

She ran toward him, 'I'm ready to come home,' she laughed, but she never made it. She fell into that darkness.

'Umi,' he whispered.

*Closing notes on the first chapter:

Umi-I just really didn't think she would be one to go into a comic book store. Didn't seem ritzy enough somehow, dunno just an impression of mine.

I am currently working on four stories, this one I'm posting makes three on fanfiction, but I'm also currently writing a sequel to "The Ocean's Rose" because it was requested a _long_ time ago, and I just had a good idea for it. Plus my manuscript that I just started working on again. I'm going to try and be a dilligent poster though, but I was also just selected for this district competition to represent my school in some science thing too, yey for me. Through all that I'll still be writing and posting, I'd go crazy if I couldn't! Other than that ja ne and much love! Oh P.S. I'm posting another chapter of Rubies and Gold along with this!*


	2. Cephiro

Chapter Two: Cephiro

"The Tokyo Tower again?" someone whined. "We've been going there since we were freshmen! Don't you think we should do something different senior year?"

"What are our parents paying you for?" someone else chorused.

Normally, Umi's would be thrown into that sea of voices, but not today, not this time. She felt drawn to the Tower, and she couldn't help but let her hands linger on her backpack that contained all six precious comics, a nightgown, a week of clothes and a few other personal affects. Something in her told her this was real, and she was leaving.

§§§~~~

"How is this educational four years in a row?" someone on the bus asked the teacher politely.

"There's always something new to learn about your city," the teacher answered patiently.

Fuu's eyes fell over her bag; there was always something new to learn about Tokyo Tower, like the fact that it had a portal to another realm. She would have laughed at her childish behavior except it wasn't funny. She was either a.) very crazy, or b.) in for the adventure of a lifetime. 

She only hoped it was b, because if it wasn't she would have a lot of explaining to do to herself and her family.

§§§~~~

Hikaru's bus was full of disorder, songs and paper fights. Everyone was trying to out scream everyone on the bus. Hikaru normally partook in these rituals, but today she was strangely silent.

"Hikaru, is something wrong?" the boy next to her asked, and she drew her eyes away from the glass and smiled warmly at him.

"No, why?"

"You're just…quiet," he said, for lack of a better word.

"Gomen, just thinking," her hands clutched her bag as she looked to the Tower that was slowly creeping upon them all. Butterflies crept into her stomach, all the while a strange sense of dread was growing in her mind. 

§§§~~~

"Well here we are…again," a girl near Umi's shoulder muttered as they stepped off the bus. 

"Yeah," she said absently, and slung her bag over one shoulder. She just stared up at the Tower until someone grabbed her arm and pulled her away. She looked startled at the girl who shook her head and urged them all away. They laughed and bounded off, Umi straying slowly behind them.

§§§~~~

"Where shall we go first?" the teacher asked the students who smiled despite their resistance and pointed toward the observation deck. "Sounds good," she nodded, and they all headed up to the tower in a single line. 

§§§~~~

"Let's go Hikaru!" they screamed and drug her up to the observation deck as others went in other directions. 

As Hikaru walked onto the deck she stopped short, barely able to breathe. She was looking directly at the Magic Knight of Water, but…not really. What was going on?

§§§~~~

Fuu looked away from her classmates, and her eyes met flaming red hair pulled back in a braid. She gasped and took a small step back, putting her tiny hand to her mouth. The Magic Knight of Fire! 

§§§~~~

Umi couldn't take her eyes off the girl with short golden hair set in waves. The girl adjusted her glasses and squinted at something, then jumped back. There was no way she could really be staring at the Magic Knight of Wind. 

All three of them walked forward to examine each other at the same time, coming into a group. They all gasped and stepped back, then came forward again. 

"You're…" they all started at once.

"We're…" Hikaru began.

"This is…" Umi stuttered.

"Real?" Fuu sighed. 

"Then…" Umi tried again, but there were no words.

Before they could finish a sentence the ground was lurching beneath them. They stumbled and fell, and suddenly they were falling through a fissure in the ground. Umi began to shriek insanely, and Fuu closed her eyes tight. Hikaru just looked curiously at the ground. 

"We're going to die!" Umi screamed and put her hands to her face trying not to think about it. 

Fuu didn't have a chance to affirm Umi's notion though, because they had landed flat on a flying fish, and they weren't going to die after all.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you," Umi whispered and kissed the fish. 

"Wow," Hikaru whispered as she looked over the scenery. "Am I dreaming?"

Umi looked up and stared in awe as well, Fuu was dumbstruck.

"It really exists," Fuu mumbled and adjusted her glasses. "I'm not crazy! It really exists!" 

The other two nodded and looked at her as the fish landed at the palace, and they hesitantly got off. Their legs were shaky, but they forced them to work and go forward, and were rewarded by this. 

As they entered they were met with the people they had read about; the people that weren't supposed to exist. 

Hikaru just stared, dumbstruck, and Fuu blushed slightly. Umi shook her head, not able to believe it. She looked around and realized some people were missing. 

"Magic Knights," Lantis bowed to them, and Hikaru shook her head, still unable to believe this was really happening.

"Glad to see your journey was safe," Eagle chimed in, and Hikaru stared.

"You're sick," she informed him, and he grinned.

"Was, but that was quite some time ago." 

"What?" Fuu shook her head. "You know us?"

"Of course we know you," Ferio answered quietly. "You're the Magic Knights, destined to save Cephiro."

"I don't understand, you know who we are, but do you _know _us?" Fuu demanded; her voice was raised and panicky.

"No," Ascot shook his head. 

"So all those things happened, but then…" Umi didn't know what was happening. 

"Emeraude and Zagato," Hikaru tried their memories.

They all hung their heads. "Such tragedy."

"How were they killed?" Fuu inquired, but her words made them quiet, and she regretted them. "Gomen nasai, what happened?"

"The three Rune Gods rose to power from the earth and defeated them," Lantis clenched his fingers. 

"They did what they had to Lantis," Eagle put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"So we never really existed here," Umi shook her head, still mightily confused.

"Come with us, we want to get you some food, and learn more about you," Presea offered, and they nodded and followed her through hallways that they felt that they knew, but they didn't. 

§§§~~~

They sat down to a table full of food and realized they were hungrier than they thought. They looked around them in wonder at this place they knew so well. 

Umi looked around and finally gained the courage to ask, "Where's Clef?"

Everyone dropped their forks and stared at her. She began to blush and put her head down, "Never mind," she mumbled and looked at her plate.

"How did you know about him?" Presea demanded, and Umi shook her head.

"It's a long story, I was hoping that maybe he could explain a little more." 

"Of-of course," Presea pointed down a hallway, and Umi nodded and thanked her. She headed down the hallway, and was met by the Master Mage, or who she believed to be the Master Mage of Cephiro.

"You're not Guru Clef," she informed him. 

He looked startled as he looked down at the young girl who dared to tell him he wasn't who he was, "What?"

"You're not the Guru, who are you?" she demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he seemed flabbergasted that anyone would accuse him of not being the Guru. 

"Look here," she rummaged through her bag and pulled out an issue of Magic Knight Rayearth. She pointed to a picture of the four foot tall Master Mage, not the one that stood in front of her, a good three inches taller than her and handsome to say the very least. 

He laughed and picked up the book, "Yes, this was me a few years ago. I changed my form when the pillar system was abolished. What is this little book exactly?" he looked it over, puzzled. 

She took it back and shook her head, "In my world, Earth, we have these. They're comics; stories that people make up and draw pictures to illustrate. It's a form of entertainment, only…this story wasn't made up. I don't know how it happened really. We're the Magic Knights, and we're in this comic, and these things happened, but we didn't have anything to do with it."

"I think that can be easily explained, Umi, right?" 

She nodded, and they walked back to the table. 

He took a seat at the head, and everyone waited for him to speak. 

"I've summoned you all here because the world is in desperate need of saviors," he began. "We're not threatened by enemies or monsters, but after everything that's happened Cephiro seems to need something to boost spirit. There is something growing in my mind though, an unease. I feel a shadow creeping upon us all. 

"That's why I called you here. As to why you're in those little books of yours…" he stopped and seemed to ponder his theory. "I think it may have been an effect of the Summoning Spell. You were put there to learn of Cephiro and to get you all together to be summoned."

They nodded in agreement, that sounded very reasonable. 

"But, may I ask," Fuu began, and everyone's eyes turned to her. She blushed and looked down, "What exactly do you want us to do?"

Clef sighed and shook his head, "That's for the Rune-Gods to decide."

An anxious air swept over everyone with the mention of the legendary Rune-Gods, especially the Magic Knights. 

"Do we have to revive them?" Umi asked quietly, and he nodded. 

"But I think you already know where to find them, so your quest should be an easy one."

They gulped and thanked him meekly before deciding they should go to bed. They would need their strength for the upcoming journey. 

As they walked to bed they talked in hushed whispers about their fate. 

"This is all so strange," Fuu pondered. 

"When I was summoned it seemed as if they knew us," Hikaru looked down, disappointment shone in her face. "I mean, when I read the comics."

"I know what you mean," Fuu muttered. 

Umi was oddly quiet, "I think it's because they do know us."

"What?" the other two almost shouted simultaneously.

Umi hushed them with a hand and tried to put her thoughts in order before continuing, "I'm not exactly sure, but…I think they're all hiding something. I think everyone knows more than they're letting on. Don't you think it odd that the only reason they would summon us would be to raise spirit? As a morale booster? I don't know but it all seems very odd."

Fuu and Hikaru nodded their agreement, but as they settled into bed, they realized they were all too tired to care at the present moment. They dozed off and let their dreams come. 

§§§~~~

"Sleep well Magic Knights," a voice laughed in the dark. "Sleep well and don't worry about your precious Cephiro, it's in good hands, mine."

*This story was inspired by a dream I had when a friend of mine and I and the rest of our school got transported to Cephiro. The dream ended with Umi meeting Clef so I'm not entirely sure what happens next. ^.^ So I guess I'll just have to keep writing and you'll have to keep reading to find out! Until next chapter! Ja ne!*


	3. Changes

*Hey everyone, I just started a new fanfiction, but I'm not going to post it until I'm finished Rubies and Gold and maybe Always With Me. It's…well…I'd rather not give it away, you'll just have to wait and find out! ^.^ Hope you like this new chapter. I finally figured out what I'm going to do with this story so yey!*

Chapter Three: Changes

She was screaming in her dream, screaming in anguish. Her friends were staring in horror as the long, twisted blade drove into her flesh again and again.

Hikaru began a spell, and Fuu pulled back on her bow and aimed at Umi's attacker, but he opened a hand and magic sent them both to the ground.

"All I ever asked was for you to love me! Then you turned around and stabbed me in the back!" he was screaming at her as she struggled to get away.

"Clef!" she called, and blood burst onto her creamy lips. She coughed up blood, and her attacker's hands began to tremble as he dropped the blade. "Oh Umi, my darling, I'm so sorry," he showered her face with tender kisses, cradling her dying form in his arms.

"Guru," Fuu was sobbing as he walked from the forest and onto the scene, "She's dying."

"How?" Clef's eyes widened in horror, but his question didn't require an answer because his eyes fell upon the holder of the dying girl. "You," he whispered and held out a hand. The man let Umi's fragile body fall limp to the ground.

In an instant a burst of red magic met a burst of white. Eventually the white overtook the red and swallowed its bearer.

Unfortunately, it came too late for the Water Knight.

Umi woke in a cold sweat, but after she realized it was only a dream she fell back to the bed. Still, sleep did not come until a long time after.

§§§~~~

The Magic Knights of Cephiro set off the next morning with more direction and help than the original Knights had experienced; the Knights of fiction. Their new ovum gems on their hands and their armor on their bodies made them feel safer. They were equipped with three sturdy horses, provided by Clef with a little help from Mokona, and two able and intelligent guides. Well, maybe one intelligent guide, Umi would think to herself several times over the course of the next few days. These guides were Ferio and Lantis, and they both knew every nook and cranny Cephiro contained…or so it seemed. 

Two days into the journey Ferio looked around him and nodded, as if confirming something. "Yep," he said softly and nodded one final time.

"Yep what?" Umi asked irritably after plucking yet another bramble out of her long blue hair.

"We're lost," he announced, and Umi's jaw dropped as Fuu shook her head disapprovingly.

"How long have you thought we were lost for Ferio?" Umi demanded, clenching her fists.

"About a day or so," he answered.

"And why did you fail to mention that?" she gritted her teeth and tried to contain her rage. Fuu and Hikaru braced themselves because if this was the Umi they had read about Ferio was in for it.

"Well I had to be sure first," he responded plainly.

Umi threw her hands up, then ripped them down again in fury at his stupidity. She muttered under her breath and turned.

"Umi-san, please be patient. We can't be that lost can we?" Fuu asked, and Umi exploded.

"That lost? We're in the middle of nowhere in another world! Our only guides don't know where we are, yes-we're _that_ lost!"

"Well, we better get un-lost then. How do we go about doing that Lantis?" Hikaru turned and looked at the man who had spoken only several words in the last few days and even then they were only addressed to Ferio or Hikaru when he was first spoken to.

"We go back the way we came," he answered, and everyone turned and looked back toward the forest they had just wandered through, but it was gone.

Umi's jaw dropped, and Fuu adjusted her glasses. Hikaru looked around, confused, "Didn't we just…" she started.

"Yes," Umi answered.

"Is it…?" she began again.

"No," Umi responded. 

"Ah," Hikaru nodded as the three Knights slowly turned to look at the two Cephiran inhabitants. 

"Well it hasn't done that in awhile," Ferio seemed perplexed.

"In awhile?" Umi demanded, getting hysterical again.

"The last time it did that was when Clef came to be the Master Mage almost 700 years ago," Ferio explained, and Lantis shook his head.

"The power of the Mages' is shifting."

Ferio nodded, "I must go to see the Guru straight away. Lead them on Lantis."

Lantis nodded, "Ride hard my friend."

"Wait, what's happening?" Fuu questioned, stepping forward as Ferio mounted.

"A lot, I'll try to explain everything when I get back. I will see you soon, dear Wind Knight," he winked and kicked the horse into a gallop.

Fuu smiled stupidly and nodded.

"What do we do 'till then?" Hikaru questioned Lantis, looking far up just to see him.

"We move on, he knows the way to the Water Temple. No time can be spared now," he answered in his low voice.

"Oh," Hikaru looked to the other two and smiled. "Let's go then."

§§§~~~

For two more days they traveled with the small creature Mokona in two. By this time, he had already made a great enemy in the water Knight and a great friend in the Fire Knight. 

They were sitting around a dim fire, talking and laughing when the Master Mage of Cephiro appeared in front of them, Ferio by his side, both were mounted, much to the Knight's surprise. Hikaru stared up at them for a long while, still slightly stupefied until Clef began to speak in a harsh whisper. "Put that fire out, tack up your horses and leave everything you can. We must reach the Water Temple tonight."

"What? Why?" Umi demanded.

"For your own sake stay silent," Clef snapped. "Do as I say and we may be lucky and his spies haven't reached this far yet." 

"Who are you talking about? What's going on?" Umi stepped forward, but Clef's eyes flashed as he reached out for her hand and opened it with a word, then pointed toward the fire and said a few more words. A small Dragon spiraled from her fingers and doused the flame. She stared in shock as the darkness immediately set in. 

"Move," he released her, and she pulled away, more afraid of herself than of him.

"How…?" she started.

"There is no time, get going," he cut her off.

She nodded and fumbled with the girth buckle that she could barely see as Fuu, Hikaru and Lantis did the same.

"Has he returned Guru?" Lantis asked in a hushed whisper.

"To reclaim what he believes is his," Clef answered almost as silently, but it was carried to Fuu on the Wind, and she looked up.

"What is his?" Fuu asked, and Lantis and Clef looked over to her but disregarded her question completely and spoke lower. 

"Lantis, do you know you're going the wrong way?" Clef smiled almost mischievously at Lantis who lowered his eyes and shook his head. 

"The…forest…moved…" he muttered, and Clef chuckled softly and let it go. 

"We weren't that lost Guru, I would've had it sorted out in a day or two," Ferio grinned at Fuu as he rode up to the others, his hand resting lazily on his saddle. 

"Arrogant," Clef smacked him with his staff, and Ferio shouted and rubbed the back of his head. "I swear…"

They were all quickly mounted and galloping toward the Water Temple. The closer they got, the louder the noise grew in Umi's head. It was a combination of the crashing waves and an eerie, high-pitched scream. Was it a cry? What was crying? The waves began to grow softer the closer they got. The crying got louder and higher, until it was almost a constant noise and the waves were completely drowned out. She felt a small knot in the back of her neck that slowly ran down her shoulders and up into her head. When she moved her head in the slightest it exploded inside, and she could barely stay seated. Everyone noticed her growing distress, and Clef's eyes grew weary and clouded. He knew they would never make it, but he knew he couldn't transport her there. The strong magic meant to protect her might harm her in the end. Instead he pushed them harder and faster until the splitting in Umi's head erupted, and she could no longer move. She fell from the horse and rolled onto the ground. 

Every muscle in her body tightened and seized up until she was left lying helpless on the ground. She couldn't stand or speak or do anything but lie there, crumpled on the ground and listen to the crying in her head. The high-pitched never-ending cry. She began to mutter and sweat, but she couldn't understand what she was muttering.

"_Servo mihi, parco mihi, exhibeo mihi careo caliga._" 

"What's wrong?" Fuu demanded as she dismounted and bent down to Umi, Hikaru hovering close by her side. 

"What is she saying?" Hikaru questioned.

Clef shook his head, "It is a foreign tongue, one from your world, but I know it only from the olden days when the worlds were one." 

Fuu stored this bit of information, and her eyes shot from Clef to Ferio but she didn't ask the question…yet… "It's Latin."

"Yes, it means, 'Save me, spare me, deliver me from darkness,'" Fuu and Clef said the last verse in unison. 

"What darkness?" Hikaru's eyes narrowed. "What's going on?" she was trying not to get frantic, but she didn't know what was happening to her companion.

"He has her then, it's too late," Clef stood and looked around, and Fuu felt a darkness on the Wind, as Hikaru's heart welled up and grew hot and heavy. She didn't understand the feeling, but she could tell something bad was going to happen…soon.

"Let her go Silvius," Clef ordered into the darkness. "She is a changed person, free from your hate. Let her have her life."

A figure materialized out of the darkness, a sick smirk was on his lips, and Umi screamed when she looked up and saw him. It was the man from her dreams. She scrambled back and into Hikaru's feet, who slowly helped her up. The crying had stopped, as if it had given up being saved. It had stopped abruptly, as if choked. 

"Your time has ended Clef, bow to the new Master Mage of Cephiro," he held out a hand, but Clef raised his staff, and the spell was countered. 

"You will never have Guru Clef's position! Not so long as we're alive," Ferio's voice was a low, warning growl, but it made Silvius' smirk grow.

"My brother," he bowed to Ferio who scowled and felt a sickness grow in his stomach.

"We were never brothers," Ferio spat back at him.

"What makes you say that?" Silvius sounded innocent, almost hurt, in a mocking way. "We were the same. We shared the same sentence for the same crime. Just because you came back in shining armor with your flag raised as the new Prince of Cephiro doesn't mean that you can say we weren't the same, that we weren't brothers. Isn't that right Lantis?" he turned his eyes toward Lantis who stayed silent but glowered. "Isn't that right my brother?"

"Enough!" Clef boomed, seeing Lantis' grip on his sword tighten. He knew Lantis would never stand a chance when faced with Silvius, and would not see one of his friends hurt. "Be gone from here you demon!"

"Oh come on Clef! You can't tell me you wouldn't do the same thing that I did! You were just never given the opportunity!" Clef's eyes darkened with Silvius' words. 

"That was a long time ago, we were both very young. You chose the wrong path though Silvius. You could have come back and redeemed yourself. You could have chosen the way of light and been welcome in the palace. You were the one who chose to stay on the path of deceit and trickery," Clef held his staff out as he spoke, making sure to keep everyone behind him.

"Is that so?" he laughed, and his eyes darkened. "Is that how it was Clef? Is that what I could have done? And what? Come back into the palace with her eyes, constantly, watching," the last two words he said with venom and an insane anger as he glared at Umi. "Even now, those eyes," he whispered and stared at her so intensely, that she had to turn away. "I could never live under those eyes, so I went away and became the person that you had turned me into. Even though you don't remember, you have the same eyes. You wouldn't forgive, so I turned into the person you always thought I was but wasn't. And here we are again, under the same sky. Your eyes are the same but your body is empty and hollow. Did you ever wonder why you wake up crying in the middle of the night, Water Knight?" his twisted eyes swung full force on Umi. "It's because you're missing a part of you. All of you are, but you most of all. You swore to me and then turned around and stabbed me in the back. I was the more deceived. Well I won't make the mistake again. I'll kill you once and for all and spite that damned Dragon that you care more for. Spite you that you care more for!" he raised his hand, and Umi closed her eyes.

*I'm almost finished the next chapter for Rubies and Gold. As for Always With Me, I've started, but don't know if I'll be finished this weekend. It's Spring Break yes! I'm so excited! I'm going to try and update everything. After Spring Break though I'm going on vacation for a week, yes _after_ Spring Break, meaning two weeks of no school. So I don't think I'll be updating for a week after Spring Break, gomen nasai.*


	4. Revival

*Sorry I shortened the discovering of the Rune-Gods thing, but I didn't really want it to take all year, you all know how the Rune-Gods were discovered. I mean really, I've had enough trouble updating this fic as it is. ^.^ Hope you enjoy*

Chapter Four: Revival 

His attack came as a spiral of blue and white magic toward Umi, who was defenseless. She screamed and tried to shield herself with her hands, but Clef's shield came too late, and the attack drove her into the ground.

'Water Knight, do not let him win, fight back,' a voice ordered, and she struggled to stand, summoning her sword as she did. She lowered her hands and crossed them over her chest; her eyes flashed open and in them shone bright blue Dragon eyes and wings that flew toward an unknown enemy. 

"Those eyes," he whispered and tried to attack her once more, but this time Clef was ready and shielded her. 

"Umi, go to the voice in your head," he instructed. 

"No, I won't leave them here," Umi refused, but he glared and threw her with a hand toward the Horses. She turned back and glared at him but went and jumped on her Horse anyway. "Yah!" she kicked the mare into a canter and headed toward the waves that were once again crashing in her head.

§§§~~~

"You let her go, stupid," he muttered. "She'll do the same to you, her and that damned Dragon. You will serve my sentence."

"I've lived four hundred years with the sentence," Clef told him vehemently. "My form, my constant protection of the Pillar. But the Pillar system has been abolished and my sentence has been ended. I chose the right path, Ferio and Lantis took the course of the light, and they have been reunited. Silvius, you will die because of your choice."

"She will die for betraying me!" he shouted and raised his hand.

"And in betraying you she betrayed herself!" Ferio shouted back and drew his sword.

"She has paid her price as well Silvius, she is still paying it, but it will end very soon. She chose the right path, so did the other two. They betrayed themselves, but they did what had to be done for the good of Cephiro. Only you chose the selfish road," Clef raised his staff and closed his eyes.

"She said she loved me!"

"She once did," Clef whispered. "Then she realized the full extent of your hate, and she had to turn from you. Now be gone, this situation does not need to be discussed in front of unknowing eyes," he sighed heavily.

"You will never be rid of me until your death Clef!" he vowed, and a spiral of blue and white shot toward him, but Clef shielded himself and raised his staff. A beam of white light shot from it, and Silvius screamed, as it burned into his flesh, then disappeared.

§§§~~~

She and the Horse ran hard, but they didn't have very far to go. When they reached the shore, Umi closed her eyes and asked the voice what to do. Instantly, she was in the Water Temple, and the stones made her breath catch. Everything was a solid blue; the room was cool and somewhat damp, but not so much to make it feel foreboding. She heard the voices of whales, long, slow, almost mournful calls, through the walls of the temple. She walked around and heard the sound of her riding boots hit the cool stone, staring in wonder all around her. She approached two large wooden doors that had images engraved in them; the colors were as vivid as they would be if they were real. The left door had a background of her sword, but wound around it, was an image of a large blue Dragon; Water spiraled from its mouth. The right door was a huge blue rose that looked to be made of Water. As the petals fell, they turned into droplets of Water and fell in a puddle at the bottom. The thorns glittered dangerously in the half-light of the room. Umi gasped and admired their beauty as she went to touch them. Engraved just above the blue rose were the words, "_She never was and never will be. You don't know how you've betrayed me. Somehow you've got everybody fooled. Without the mask, where will you hide? Can't find the truth, lost in your lie. I know the truth now, I know how you are. And I don't love you anymore."_

Umi was oddly touched by the words. They were full of anguish and years or suffering. She pushed an intricately carved 'S' on the doors, and they opened, despite fears of what might lie inside.

When she walked inside, she found a stone statue of the warrior from the Manga with the girl that looked oddly like her. She was holding the neck of a blue Dragon; tears were pouring down her cheeks. The Dragon's wings were raised, as if ready to take flight.

She fell to her knees by the statue, endeared by its sad beauty. She reached out and touched the face of the girl. Suddenly, she was kneeling behind Clef, tears streaming down her cheeks, "Selece!" she sobbed.

"Sh…Umi…your punishment is nearly lifted," Clef bent down and held her close.

"Why Clef?" she demanded. "Why did Selece leave me?"

"You haven't discovered all yet, but…you will. You have revived him Umi, now you must only revive one other and your own memories, and your punishment shall be lifted," he ran his hands down her silky blue hair and closed his eyes as he hugged her.

"I remember Selece. I remember the words appearing on the doors to the Dragon Den in the Water Temple. I remember what he said. I betrayed him, but I…how could he leave?" she couldn't end the tears. She didn't understand because she couldn't remember everything.

"It was the way it had to be Umi," he moved hair from her glittering blue eyes. "For the good of Cephiro."

"For the good of Cephiro," the words struck a note in her that made her pull back from him, shy from his touch. Being near him suddenly made her feel dirty and guilty.

He sighed and closed his eyes, standing from where he had been kneeling with Umi, "We head North, toward the Wind Temple."

§§§~~~

Ferio met back up with them the next day. He told Clef grimly that the people of the palace were ready. Clef accepted this, and they continued North.

As they rode further North, a growing sound began to appear in Fuu's head. It was like a loud Wind rushing past her, but there was a crying too. At first it was soft, then it got so loud she thought she wouldn't be able to breathe. It got so loud she couldn't hear anything except for it and the whistling Wind. Then, suddenly it was choked. Fuu looked up, and the Horse stopped.

Everyone had been following her silently; Clef had guessed from her silence what was happening. The sudden consciousness on her part made them all wary. 

"Where did it go?" she asked them.

"Where did what go?" Hikaru inquired.

"That-that crying," they looked at her, all but Umi and Clef were clueless. "You didn't hear it?"

They shook their heads, "Only you'll hear him Fuu," Umi told her softly.

"But it-he's…gone…" Fuu looked around herself hopelessly.

"I may have something to do with that," Silvius appeared in front of them, and Clef stepped in front of Umi, Ferio in front of Fuu, and Lantis in front of Hikaru.

'Traitor! He has not born his punishment!' a voice shrieked in Umi's mind, and her eyes began to glow with hate. 'Now he wants thou for only power. Magic Knight, do not him defeat thee.'

"He never loved me enough," she whispered and drew her sword.

Clef looked behind him at her angry eyes, "If only she knew," he muttered.

"If only she knew what Clef? The truth? What truth could you give her? Now that you've both spent four hundred years in exile, she doesn't remember what she's been exiled for. All she remembers is that damn Dragon! That's the truth Clef, do you feel like me now? How does it feel to be second best? Welcome to my world," he taunted, and Clef closed his eyes and raised his staff once more. This time though, Fuu disappeared, and Silvius remained.

"Let her go, watch her revive her precious Phoenix. Then we'll see how innocent you are Ferio," Silvius laughed. "Besides, it's not her I want."

"You will never have me Silvius!" Umi screamed, though she didn't know how she knew that he was looking for her.

"As I once did?" he mused. "As I once had you? Before you went and confessed your sins to the Dragon?"

"It was for Cephiro, I am a Protectress of Cephiro," she protested.

"And sin you did," he chuckled. "You not only played with a Keeper, but you fell in love with a Master Mage! I didn't serve my sentence, but he served his well enough. His ended two years ago and everyone rejoiced. Why serve a sentence when I can have you now? No pillar, no sentence."

"That's not the way it works Silvius. Emeraude didn't deal out the sentences, Mokona did, the same as he dealt her fate that was sealed years before," Clef looked at Umi who looked on the verge of memory.

"Come here," Silvius whispered a spell and pulled Umi toward him.

"Umi-chan!" Hikaru's eyes were frantic.

Umi's eyes snapped open, as if remembering, and she pulled away from the magic, needing to be near Hikaru, "Hikaru!" she sliced through the magic with her sword and ran to Hikaru while Clef and Ferio tried to fend him off.

"Be gone Silvius," Clef sounded very tired as he spoke.

"Not without," he lunged forward and ripped Umi into his arms, "my prize," he let his fingers trail down her cheeks. "Who do you call for?" he kissed her neck.

"Clef," tears streamed down Umi's cheeks, "I'm scared."

"Umi," he reached for her, but Silvius merely waved and disappeared. Clef turned back to the other two; anger flared in his eyes, "I'm going after her. Get Fuu, and take Hikaru to the mountains. Meet me back at the palace in four days."

They bowed and agreed. Clef gripped his staff and said a spell, and a line of dark purple magic appeared in front of him. He clapped, and his staff vanished. He mounted his Horse and took off after Umi and Silvius. 

§§§~~~

The walls in this place were smooth and cool under her fingers. The marble pillars were tinted green, and her shoes made echoing thumps around her. She moved her head from one side of the enormous room to the other in amazement. Then her eyes found something that made them stare fixedly, unblinkingly. There were two huge oak doors with vividly colored images seemingly etched into the wood. Fuu knew this had to be an act of magic.

On the left door were her sword and a green Phoenix swooping in on it from the right-hand side. Its wings faded over the sword and seemed to bleed into the door. On the right door was a large, gray feather that was surrounded by smaller green feathers and swirls of air. The feathers fell into a swirling gray and green cloud at the bottom. Etched above the feather, in a delicate cursive, were the words, "_I tried to kill the pain, but only bred more. So much more. I lay dying, and I'm pouring. Crimson regret and betrayal. I'm dying and praying. Bleeding and screaming. Am I too lost, to be saved? Am I too lost…?"_

Her eyes welled with tears. Wishing to free whatever was inside the mournful doors, she pushed on the gold and green 'W' connecting the two doors and surged inside.

Once inside, she saw a painting of a girl warrior that resembled her, staring at the sky. Tears were falling down her ivory cheeks, and her mouth was open, as if screaming. She was looking into the sky, and Fuu looked to the image of a light green Phoenix spirit that seemed to look back at her wistfully.

Fuu reached up and touched the face of the girl, then was instantly transported to the back of her Horse, next to Ferio. Tears were in her eyes, "Windam…you left me…"

§§§~~~

Clef tracked Silvius' magic deep into the Forest and then out into a small village just outside the Forest, then, the trail ended. Clef tried to make sense of it; then realized where he was. This wasn't an ordinary village; it was the village of the Keepers. He wouldn't be able to go in there without a very persuasive defense. He rode up to the small gates that protected the village and was almost thrown back with the magic that was screaming from them. He closed his eyes and called up to the Gate Keeper. 

"I want access to your Sacred Village," Clef told him.

"What is your purpose here?" the man called back, his voice was full of power and suspicion.

"To claim that which was stolen from me," he responded.

"The Magic Knight of Water will remain Master Mage," he spat back. "You have no right to enter and soil our Sacred Village."

"I have every right," Clef responded coolly. "My duty is to protect the Water Knight and the rest of Cephiro, and I will die doing just that."

"Then death is your choice?" the Gate Keeper asked just as calmly.

"If it must be," Clef dismounted and waited for the man to come out and face him, but a young woman stopped them both.

"Stop it Porta, he's a Master Mage," she scolded, and the man bowed and went back to his post, watching the gates. "Grant me access," she instructed, and he grumbled but did so.

Clef walked with the strange woman, holding the reins of his Horse tightly in his hands. Everyone stared and whispered as they walked through the town.

"He takes his job much too seriously," she told Clef cheerfully, "but he's new. He was just brought here when his powers broke out in his town. He's still being taught, but he's strong. He would have lost though, and we would have needed to find a new Gate Keeper."

Clef didn't know how to respond. He was being taken in the Sacred Village willingly by a woman who was obviously a Keeper, yet…she was taking him to Silvius, or was she?

"You're looking for the Water Knight? Silvius brought her to us not two hours ago. He didn't think you would be able to find her here. Very clever Tracking Spell, but I wouldn't expect any less," she babbled, and Clef studied her. Her long blond hair fell freely down her back, and her blue eyes shimmered though she smiled. Her body was very small and frail, almost as if she would break if someone touched her. When she walked it was almost as if she were a ghost, swaying and whipping in and out on the wind. "My name is Quies, I'm the Keeper of Dreams."

And that explained it, and suddenly he felt a deep desire to apologize, "I'm sorry," he whispered, and she turned and smiled at him.

"As am I sometimes, solitary life isn't easy, but…one gets used to it. It comes with great power," she smiled, and Clef looked into her shimmering eyes that always looked on the verge of tears. The job of the Dream Keeper was a hard one. She held every dream and every nightmare, she saw into the future and was destined to live a life alone, loving everything and everyone from afar. She was beautiful, but none could touch her. Her life was as solitary as the Pillar of Cephiro, only…her life was forever and there was no suicide.

"Why are you…" Clef began.

"Helping you?" she grinned and shook her head so that her long blond hair fell around her shoulders. "Silvius didn't take either of his punishments four hundred years ago Clef. He was exiled from the Sacred Village. As the Keeper of Magic, he was strictly forbidden to fall in love with a Magic Knight, and knowing this, he sought them out. He sought out what could not be his. He betrayed the Keepers, and his title and powers were stripped. He was still powerful, as all Keepers are, but losing his status and his rights was too much. All the magic that was left in him, was what you had taught him, and it made him resentful. He disappeared, and for two hundred years we did not hear of him. Then, he came back, and we shunned him again. He became resentful to us as well; he turned on his own people, and his heart became black. We pushed him from the city, all of us were too many for him, but he vowed to be back. He came back a few hours ago, and Porta let him in. Porta is young, he did not know, and so Silvius came to us once more, with a dark intent."

§§§~~~

They rode hard toward the mountains, and the voice was steadily growing stronger in Hikaru's mind. The crackling fire backed it, and the warmth provided her strength. Soon, she was forcing the Horse harder and faster toward the voice, the others were barely able to keep up, but they did their best and soon they saw a huge mountain coming up, and then…Hikaru vanished.

§§§~~~

"What did he do to Umi?" Clef's voice was raised.

"He took her to the new Keeper of Magic, and her beauty…he tried to stop himself. But…I believe he has fallen in love Clef," Quies finished her story, and Clef looked up to a large palace at the end of the village, a palace and a city that had been blocked by magic. This was not the village he had seen outside, this was an enormous city, full of Mages and protected by their magic. 

"What can I do?" Clef demanded.

"You must go to Veneficus, you must get Umi back. If he truly has fallen in love we must shun him or cleanse him. Cleansing is possible, if the love is young and not returned. Veneficus is young as well, we trained him just after Silvius left, but his wisdom does not run as deep. He is foolish; you must convince him of Silivus' lies and trickery. You must do this, for Umi, and for the Keepers."

§§§~~~

She stepped inside the doors to the Lion Shrine and gasped as she stared at the beauty of the red marble pillars. How could this be possible? The room was huge but empty, and as Hikaru walked along the smooth obsidian floor, she began to get edgy. Then, everything melted away when her fiery red eyes met the doors to the Lion's Lair. The doors themselves were wood, what looked like oak, but carved into them were images so alive with color that Hikaru was sure they were going to jump out at her and become real. On the left door was a huge replica of her sword. Near the top, a huge fiery Lion appeared over the sword; its yellow eyes were staring ahead, into the black nothingness of the room. The left-hand corner of the right door held a blazing red, orange and yellow sun; its fiery arms reached out toward a line of snow-capped mountains. The sun cast a light orange glow onto the snow, like early morning sunrise. Then Hikaru noticed the words, the words that were written in cursive through the sun and almost reached the tops of the mountains, "_Distruth drives me into madness. I know I can stop the pain, if I Will it all away. Don't turn away, don't give into it. Don't try to hide, don't close your eyes. God knows what lies behind them. I'm frightened, by what I see. But somehow…I know that there's much more to come. Immobilized by my fear, I seem to be…blinded by tears…" _

Hikaru stared up at the words as the pain within in them sunk in fully. She closed her eyes and held back tears as she pushed on the engraved 'R' between the two doors and opened the door to the room.

Inside, she found almost a life size clay model, only, it was art, not something that children make. It was painted as vividly as the doors, and it held a wistful scene just as the elegantly carved words. There was a girl that looked like her, dressed in armor. She was reaching out her hands; tears were glistening in the sun on her cheeks. She was standing atop a snow-capped mountain, and then Hikaru's eyes fell to what she was reaching for. On a mountain nearby, was a large fiery Lion; its head was turned, looking toward the girl, but its body was facing the slope of the mountain, heading the other way. One of its paws was raised, taking a step toward the bottom of the mountain where it would be gone forever. Hikaru could almost see it vanish though it remained still. She reached out and stroked the hair of the girl, trying to comfort her, then vanished. When she opened her eyes, she was sitting next to Lantis, at the base of the mountain; they were all getting ready for supper it seemed. A tear fell down her cheek, "Rayearth…"

*I actually drew those doors, they turned out pretty cool, but Selece on Umi's sword doesn't look quite right. Anyway, the words on the door are Evanesence's not mine, don't sue yadda yadda. I wrote this whole chapter on a train coming back from vacation, so if the lyrics are wrong it's because I was doing it by what I heard on the CD and I didn't have the little booky thing. Right now it's upstairs and my computer is slow and won't download anything, so I'm too lazy to find out if I was right or not. So gomen if anything is wrong, until next chapter!*


	5. The Palace of the Keepers

*If you're confused hang in there, all will be explained *gains mysterious voice* ^.^ Oh I love this story so far, it's something new for me, something I haven't experienced since oh…when I wrote Torn Between War and Destiny which was like…a year ago so yey! And in this one, maybe I won't have Umi and Clef's love for one another drag on, I know that's getting redundant. But, I promise you there will be conflict, I've got to beat up on her, she's my favorite*

Chapter Five: The Palace of the Keepers

The two walked up the steps of the Palace, and Clef felt rising anxiety. The Keeper of Magic held all the Magic in Cephiro; he was more powerful than even the Master Mage. 

"If…he has his wits about him," Quies read Clef's thoughts…literally.

"Won't he?" Clef asked skeptically.

"Not if he loses himself in trying to keep what was never his," she responded.

Clef closed his eyes, trying to picture Umi in their holds. His pace quickened as they walked around the beautiful Palace. It was so gorgeous that it took even his breath away, and he lived in the Palace of Cephiro. The walls and pillars were white marble, but they flashed rainbow colored despite, screaming of magic. When he looked into the floor, he found it was glass and he could make out images floating in the glass. He shuddered and looked back up; they were past Keepers, serving their own kind of sentence. For a minute he understood why Silvius had fled his own sentence. Still, even admiring the beauty of the Palace, Clef was wary. He felt that he was being watched. A shadow behind a pillar would catch his eye and make him turn and glare. A feeling of footsteps behind him would make his eyes dart.

"It's Castellum, the Keeper of the Palace," Quies answered his questions.

"Could you _please_ stay out of my thoughts?" Clef growled.

"Oh, I could go deeper, I could go to your dreams, your subconscious, if you wish," she grinned mischievously. 

He glared but didn't pursue. 

They reached two large stone doors that looked unmovable. Carved into them were many keyholes and images of the Sacred Village. Keepers without faces moved through the town, all headed toward unknown destinations. 

"Castellum, please let us in," Quies called, and a small, paranoid looking man appeared out of thin air in front of them. He only stood about five feet and was very thin. He twisted his long fingers around each other and looked from side to side nervously.

"You won't find Veneficus in there Quies," his small voice seemed to pierce the silence of the Palace. He winced and cowered from the sound echoing on his beloved walls.

"I know where he is Castellum," Quies interrupted sharply. "And I plan to get in this way."

"He'll be angry, he's entertaining," Castellum informed her.

"I honestly could care less, now let me in," she snapped.

"As you wish," he put his hands together in a praying position, backing up and disappearing as he did. Clef watched him vanish, then there was a lurching sound as the doors began to swing open.

Quies nodded and smiled as they slowly walked across the threshold of the great stone doors. Clef looked to the right and saw Castellum, bowing as the doors closed.

"Welcome to the Throne Room," Clef turned to look at Quies for a split second while she spoke, and when he turned back, Castellum had vanished.

"He's gone to warn Veneficus. His loyalty to the Keeper of Magic is his duty. He has no other purpose but to protect this castle and its inhabitants. He can never leave," Quies explained as Clef turned and was able to finally get a good look at the room in front of him. 

There was a long red carpet that led up to an ivory throne. On each side of the isle were five pillars, leading down to the throne, behind each of the five pillars were another three pillars, but other than that, the room was entirely empty. 

"Quies!" a young man jogged up to her, and she smiled warmly. His shoes made a loud clicking against the stone. 

When Clef was able to get a good look at him, he saw a man that looked about the age of Quies, though it was impossible to tell if that prediction was true or not since, Quies herself could be thousands of years old. His jet-black hair was disheveled and thrown over solid black eyes that were molded almost like an owl's. His armor was similar to Lantis', but his cloak boasted small blue and white stars. Clef felt a small gust of wind when he got close to him.

"Noctis," Quies grinned.

"Who is he?" Noctis' eyes fell over Clef in distaste and anger. "He is not a Keeper."

"No, Noctis, this is…" Quies started.

"Quies, you'll get your title stripped or be forced into the floor!" Noctis protested. "You can't…"

"I can't love him, as I can't love you," Quies responded softly; Clef was sure her eyes were shimmering now. "He is the Master Mage of Cephiro Noctis; he has come to reclaim the Water Knight."

"No," Noctis protested flatly.

"What?" Clef demanded; his voice was oddly angry. 

"She is the best thing that ever happened to this Palace."

"Noctis!" Quies screamed. "She will _kill_ Veneficus! He cannot be permitted to fall in love with her!"

"He already has Quies; he will choose punishment," he answered flatly.

"No! I will not allow it! It is still young! We can cleanse it! I will not have another fall victim to her!"

"How many have fallen victim to you Quies?" he demanded, and she stepped back. "How many have you taken to the floor? How many will you take after me?"

"I did not choose the path for me," she whispered. "You knew long before we met who I was Noctis, but you will not stop me from saving Veneficus and the rest of the Keepers. It is my duty, to this Village," she stayed strong, and Clef commended her. 

"Don't you understand?" Noctis begged with her. "Veneficus is happy, truly happy for once. After he has served his punishment he can rise again, and be happy, with his love."

"One has already served punishment for her!" Quies cried, "And she has served for someone else," she added, softer still. "She does not love him," she accented this last sentence and pushed past Noctis. 

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her close to him. 

"Let go of me Noctis," she ripped away. "I will not see you go to the floor," tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Veneficus is not the only one who will choose punishment!" Noctis called after her, but she shook her head and turned, glaring at him.

"I do not love you Noctis!"

His head shot down, and he closed his eyes. Clef could feel his heart break. Before another thought went through Clef's head, Noctis grabbed his cloak and disappeared. 

§§§~~~

Umi raised her head though it felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds. She rubbed her temples and looked around her. The room she was in was extremely elegant. The walls were painted a light blue, and the bed she was lying in was a canvas waterbed with a light blue drape over it. Overhead were stars that twinkled in the daylight, "Wow," she whispered. When she touched the stars they burned under her fingers, forcing her to pull away. She threw her feet over the bed and looked out in the room. It was simple; the floor beneath the bed was cold glass. When she looked into it, she saw faceless figures, almost swimming, trying to break the glass. She screamed and when she looked up, she met the eyes of a relatively handsome man. She jumped back and tripped over a table, falling to the ground with the faces. She struggled to get off the floor, and he watched, amused. 

"Don't worry, they can't hurt you. They're serving punishments for various things, eventually they are freed," he explained, and she looked down and shuddered. That _would_ be a punishment…"My name is Veneficus, I am the Keeper of Magic."

She looked at him confusedly, "Am I-am I supposed to know what that is?"

He laughed and shook his head, "You once did, but that may take awhile to regenerate." 

"Is he going to come for me?" Umi didn't want to use his name. She felt oddly vulnerable in this place, as if there were more eyes than the ones beneath her.

"Silvius? No, he was shunned from here long ago. The Gate Keeper has been informed that he is never to enter the Village again. You're safe, so long as you're here," he answered. 

Umi heaved a sigh of relief, and Veneficus smiled; it was a trusting smile. "So…um…where exactly is here?"

"You are in the Sacred Village, in the Palace of the Keepers."

"I really don't know what you're talking about," Umi never was one to be shy, and this man did seem friendly.

"Well it is quite a long story that may take awhile to explain. Perhaps, after we've received our guests?" he suggested, and Umi's eyes widened.

"Guests?" her hands began to tremble. The way he said guests didn't make it seem warm and fuzzy.

"No one will ever hurt you so long as you're in my protection," he assured her, and she nodded, trying to accept that. 

"Are you friends with Clef?" she inquired meekly.

"I've never met him, though…I feel the opportunity is slowly rising," he looked toward the door that led to the throne room and smiled.

§§§~~~

"That was Noctis," Quies wiped a tear, "he's the Keeper of the Night. From what he says, it seems you'll have to convince not just Veneficus that this is the right thing. It seems that some of the Keepers believe that betrayal is right in the name of love. I have a feeling that that may have been brought on by your dear Water Knight."

"It was difficult, punishment is not for the weak hearted. In the end, we will be happier," Clef resolved, and she shrugged and shook her head.

"In the end, Veneficus must remain in the Palace of the Keepers, and she must remain outside it."

"That I would agree with entirely," Clef mumbled, and she smiled back at him as she pushed open the door to Veneficus' chambers. 

The first room was living quarters. Quies closed her eyes and concentrated. Clef felt the magic swell up around her. When she opened her eyes, she knew where they were and headed to a door to her right. She opened it, and they found Veneficus, staring at the door quite smugly; Umi was sitting on the bed behind him.

Umi jumped up upon seeing Clef; her face was alight with delight, "Clef!"

"Umi," he sighed and went to her, embracing her quickly before stormy eyes forced him to release her.

"Veneficus, what are you doing?" Quies demanded of the Keeper of Magic.

"Quies, I will see you to the floor for this," he hissed.

"You are the only one headed to the floor Veneficus, and for what? A woman that doesn't belong to you and never will?" Quies questioned angrily.

"What do you know?" Veneficus snarled, and his good looks were marred. His blond hair moved from over his angry yellow eyes, and Umi jumped back.

"Silvius brought her here to trick you," Clef tried to be patient, but the feeling of the Keeper of Magic made his skin itch. "He wanted to see you in the floor; he wants his title back."

"Silvius wouldn't do that! He's a Keeper!" Veneficus shouted back. "You only want her for yourself Master Mage!"

"She is a human being! She has her own emotions!" Clef argued. 

"Veneficus, this will get you nowhere," Quies tried to keep their anger down, for fear of them killing everyone. "Clef is right, Silvius has turned on us. We knew long ago; his tricks have deceived you. Why would he bring her here if he did not wish to tempt you?"

"To keep her protected," Veneficus answered.

"You said you weren't in line with him!" Umi screamed.

"I'm not! We are…enemies…" he whispered, and then realized they were enemies. For the past two hundred years they had been mortal enemies. Silvius wouldn't bring Umi here for protection; he _had_ brought her here to tempt him.

"You understand?" Quies felt the recognition and sighed.

"I…understand…but I…" he faltered. He did still have feelings for the beautiful Magic Knight.

"Will be cleansed," Quies smiled weakly. "You will be cleansed with Noctis."

"But Noctis…" Veneficus started.

"I will not see him go to the floor Veneficus. I love him too greatly for that, so to keep him safe I lied to him. He will be Cleansed with you, and we will all be safe," Quies looked at the floor and closed her eyes. 

"I understand," he nodded. "What must I do?"

"Go to Animus, I assume Noctis is already there. She will be expecting you. She has seen your memories," Quies instructed, and he nodded and left the room without so much as a goodbye.

"What will happen to him?" Clef asked softly.

"Animus is the Keeper of Memories, she will clear them. She will make it so you never existed. She will make it so I, never existed," Quies looked down, and a single tear hit the ground. 

"I am sorry," Clef whispered, and she looked up and hugged him quickly.

"It is the life of the Keeper of Dreams. I never chose my path, but I walk it. I must live with what I have and accept it. You, on the other hand, have had many choices, and most of them have been correct. I will be seeing you soon," she smiled and then turned to Umi. "You are the Daughter of the Water; you will understand your path soon enough. Trust those your heart loves Water Knight, for it is all you have," she hugged her quickly and then called out. 

"Porta! Send them home!"

When they opened their eyes once more they were in the Palace of Cephiro, on the second day of their departure, and they still had two days to wait for the other four. 


	6. The Keeper of Dreams

*Wow, I feel like an idiot. I was getting ready to start a new chapter for this and couldn't remember which chapter I was on, so I went to "find" in Word and found that I had TWO chapter fives and hadn't yet uploaded this chapter that was already conveniently written. Wow. Well, it's all good because here's the next chapter that I wrote forever ago and forgot about, but it's here!*

Chapter Six: The Keeper of Dreams

Fuu, Ferio, Hikaru and Lantis arrived at the palace the next day, a day early. They were surprised but thrilled to find Umi and Clef there early, and more importantly, uninjured.

Both Fuu and Hikaru had an undeniable sadness in their eyes though, and Umi realized they too had revived their Legendary Rune Gods. Umi and Clef had no questions for them, but the other four had questions for Umi and Clef, "Where have you been? Is Silvius alive? Has he been defeated? How did you get back?" the questions rolled from Hikaru's tongue.

Clef sighed and closed his eyes, "Maybe it's time I told you three about the Legend of the Keepers."

"The Legend of the Keepers?" Ferio looked skeptical, "But that's only a story parents tell their children. It can't possibly…"

"Every word is true," Lantis interjected. "I met one, fleeing."

"Was she shunned?" Umi asked him, but he shook his head.

"She left the Sacred Village to serve her punishment of fifty years in solitude," he answered. 

"Alone for fifty years?" Hikaru's eyes filled with pain.

"What did she do?" Umi persisted.

"A man she did not love fell in love with her. He was forbidden to love her, so he was banished to the floor for one hundred years," Lantis explained in his calm, low voice.

"Forbidden to love her?" Fuu inquired meekly. 

"Some loves are forbidden in the Sacred Village, more so there than here, but, for the Keeper of Dreams all love is forbidden," Lantis clenched his fists, that was his only sign of emotion.

"Quies," Umi whispered. "He fell in love with Quies."

A quick look of astonishment crossed Lantis' face, then vanished.

"We met her in the Sacred Village," Umi answered his look, and Ferio's jaw dropped. This time the astonishment on Lantis' face was apparent, and it stayed.

"You were in the Sacred Village?" he whispered, and Umi nodded as Clef chose this moment to begin his tale.

"Yes, some love is forbidden in the Sacred Village as it is in all places, but the restrictions are greater, the punishments more severe. But the Keepers themselves go back thousands of years, four Pillars before Princess Emeraude. Her name was Silvia, and she was weak of heart. The Pillar System was young then; the tests contained the flaws of humans. Once she had been named Pillar, she couldn't handle it. Her heart was not strong enough to pray constantly for the wellbeing of Cephiro. So, just before she died, she made a wish for Cephiro. She wished that another Pillar would never have to die in exhaustion, and the Keepers were born. Each Keeper was born with a special purpose. They came to the Sacred Village to be trained and when they were ready or the old Keeper was killed, they took his or her place. The stronger the powers of the Keeper, the more punishment he or she was born with. For every betrayal of the Ancient Laws and Codes of the Keepers comes a certain punishment. If a Keeper refuses his or her punishment his or her titles are stripped, and he or she is shunned from the Sacred Village, mortal, never to return." 

"How sad…" Hikaru mumbled, and the other two nodded. 

"But who decides the punishments Guru?" Fuu asked.

Clef shook his head, "Mokona, and the Will of Cephiro. You know Cephiro is a living being, and it enforces its own Will on others."

"Why is it forbidden to love?" Hikaru demanded; her hands were clenched. This seemed wrong to her, every fiber of her being was screaming with the betrayal. 

"Because, you can become…blinded, by love," Ferio looked down, "and you've betrayed your duties."

Fuu looked at him curiously- was he speaking from experience?

"It used to be, that love wasn't forbidden, then people and Keepers alike began to slip up. They began to abuse love and its privileges. They'd forget about their duties, and so certain love became forbidden. Certain people were shaded from one another with punishments. Still, people fall victim to love, though they shouldn't, they're exposed to those they're supposed to stray from. Sometimes, it's an accident," Clef's eyes turned to Lantis, "sometimes, it's on purpose," here he looked at Umi who looked down. "Either way, the punishments are dealt out. If the lovers can both return from their punishments, and revive the things they've betrayed and their love, then they can be free. They can return in glory, and their punishments can be lifted. The stronger the person, the more difficult the punishment." 

"That's…" Fuu couldn't find the word.

"It goes back for thousands of years; some things have their reasons. It's a test of love, of duty," Ferio's head was still on the ground.

Fuu looked up, "Crimson regret and betrayal," she whispered. "Those were the words on the doors. Did we…have we…betrayed them?"

"You…" Ferio was choked. "You…"

"You betrayed no one Wind Knight; they betrayed you," Silvius appeared in front of them, and Umi winced. He walked toward her and grabbed her chin in his hands. "I know you've seen the Sacred Village, but why are you here? Why aren't you with Veneficus?"

Umi ripped away and drew her sword, "He was Cleansed, luckily not banished," she spat.

"Pity," Silvius sighed.

"You have no right in this Palace Silvius," Clef informed him, which caused his eyes to swerve to meet Clef's.

"I used to have every right. Don't you remember old friend? You granted me access, naïve as you were. You were young; you knew nothing of the Sacred Village or the floor. You let me in to see the very thing I was forbidden to have," he smiled, and Umi cringed. "And why shouldn't I have her? She was beautiful and powerful; we were young and foolish. I was the Keeper of Magic, the strongest Mage in Cephiro; my powers were only matched by you. So I seized what was forbidden, forsaking Ancient Codes. Only, she didn't love me. Why be punished for someone who did not love me in return?"

"There are Keepers that suffer those consequences. Their duty is strong," Clef's voice was angry.

"Who? Quies? Foolish girl, she's a devil and trickster. I've seen more Keepers fall at her hands than I want to count. She takes her punishment silently, which only makes her more desirable, and she knows it. She knows it, and she loves it," he laughed when he saw Umi's rising anger.

"Just because you couldn't accept your own punishment!" she shouted, and his eyes were almost considerate as they fell upon her.

"You saw the floor inside the Palace of Keepers? Hundreds of nameless faces all trying to break free, all getting nowhere. Not able to feel, not able to live, but unable to die? Umi, my sweet, could you stand that for four hundred years?" he inquired, and she stepped back. She knew she couldn't.

"Silvius, you chose your own path. Your fate is no fault of ours; it lies with you," Lantis spoke, and Silvius' eyes filled with anger.

"It's hers, hers and those eyes! Those enrapturing eyes, all I wanted was to be seen by them. But those are eyes of a Dragon as well. I'll show that damned Dragon what punishment really is. He left her once, how will he suffer when he loses her forever?" he opened a hand, and a burst of blue and white magic came spiraling toward her. She jumped over it and landed inches from Silvius. He hissed and vanished. 

"Well," Umi muttered as she unsummoned her sword, "he's filling in pieces of the puzzle every time he appears."

"But he keeps bringing more questions," Fuu shook her head, trying to piece it all together. Ferio put a hand on her shoulder, and she blushed. 

Ascot burst into the room, "Guru, Magic Knights, Prince," he bowed, and they bowed back. "There's-there's urgent news from-from the Sacred Village, from Veneficus."

Clef's eyes narrowed, "What news?"

"It's the Keeper of Dreams; she's been banished to the floor. He says she has no replacement, one has not been born in this world. He wants you to bring the Magic Knights to the Sacred Village, to undergo the Tests," Ascot's voice was panicked.

"What?" Clef shouted, outraged.

"He's commanded it Guru," Ascot bowed, his eyes lingering on Umi who immediately began to panic. 

"What's going on?" Umi questioned frantically.

"The Keeper of Magic and the Master Mage are trained together. Ascot and Veneficus were trained together, but Veneficus' time came prematurely. The two are very close, as Silvius and I once were. He would have sent word to Ascot about Quies' banishment. He summons all three of you, though only one of you is capable of being the Keeper of Dreams. It takes a strong magic, and a resilient heart, a sharp mind, but a deep intuition. An intuition as deep as the Sea," his eyes locked on Umi's, and her face paled. 

"No," she whispered. "No, I won't go."

"You must," Clef's eyes filled with tears, four hundred years of exile, only to find this.

"I've spent four hundred years without you. I betrayed Selece for you! I betrayed my duty as a Magic Knight only for you! I will not lose you now," and her exile and the years before it crashed over her like a wave. She had caught the attention of Silvius when he was 'visiting' Clef, but she did not love the Keeper of Magic. She had already fallen in love with the Master Mage. 

She tried to deny it, to push it away. For awhile it worked, but one night he confessed his own love for her. She could no longer deny it. They spent one night together before she ran to Selece. She told Selece of Silvius, who had fallen in love with her, but she spoke mostly of Clef. She spoke of her hidden love and their night together. She knew she would be punished.

Selece listened, all the while his heart broke, because the deeper her love ran, the more severe the punishment. Her love would destroy them both. She had betrayed her duty, and in doing so, she had betrayed them both.

When she was finished, the punishment was clear in both their minds, for their minds were linked, but no longer. The decision was a hard one, but both chose punishment.

'I must wash my hands of thee,' Selece told her, and she began to sob. Tears fell freely down her cheeks, more rapid than before. 'For four hundred years I will suffer solitude. For four hundred years thee will live in darkness until eighteen years before thine return. Then, thou will be reborn on Earth, not alone, but in a strange, cruel world. Thou will feel pain like none before until thou can revive thine forbidden love and me. Only then, wilt thou be cleaned. Do thout accept?"

"Yes," Umi whispered, and Selece shrieked, and Umi was transported to a world of darkness. She remembered every minute of the three hundred eighty-two years she had to wander there. It made her fall to the ground in sudden weariness. Before she knew it, she had fallen into a world of darkness, like all those years ago.

Clef reached down and swiped her forehead gently with his hand, trying to understand what he had done to anger Cephiro so greatly. He picked her up gently, "Come, we must go to the Sacred Village. Delay could have us all punished."

They nodded weakly and followed Clef outside. 

They mounted their Horses, and Clef held Umi close to him so that she wouldn't fall as they set off at a slow canter, all the more Clef could stand with Umi unconscious. 

*

"Veneficus, you fool," he hissed at the Gates of the Sacred Village. "You cannot do this."

"Quies has chosen her path, now we must find a replacement," he answered solemnly. "You were banished from the Sacred Village Silvius, you will not enter."

Silvius opened a hand and a ball of blue and white magic flew toward the Gates, but Veneficus closed his fist, and the ball was smothered.

"I control all magic in this world Silvius, as you once did. You should know attacking will do nothing," Veneficus sighed heavily. "I do not wish to punish the Master Mage, though I know you do. So why are you fighting for him Silvius?"

He just glared and didn't respond. If Umi was sent into the Village she would be taken from Clef, yes, but Veneficus would distance himself from her, just as he distanced himself from Quies. His falling to temptation was the only way Silvius could ever regain his title.

"Do you think that you would really get your title back Silvius? That has never taken place; you chose your road. The only way to regain your title is through punishment. If Veneficus were to fall, his replacement would be the next in line, not you," Mentis, the Keeper of the Mind, read his thoughts and shook her head.

He scowled at her and closed his eyes, trying to force her from his head. She simply laughed and waited for him to ultimately realize that he could no longer match the power of the Keepers.

"Your choice has driven you into madness, but you were the one who sought out the Magic Knights. You drove yourself into temptation," Veneficus told him wearily. 

Silvius glared but did not dare to challenge the Keeper of Magic. He closed his eyes and vanished.

"He will return," Veneficus mumbled, and they nodded. "Bring Quies to me."

"Veneficus…" Mentis started, but he shook his head.

"Bring her to me, we must speak together, once and for all. If she is to go to the floor I must tell her that her punishment will be stronger. This is the ultimate act of selfishness," he clenched his fists. "Ascot told me of Clef's struggle, and how this will destroy him. It seems that Ascot's time will be premature as well. Her decisions will shape the fate of Cephiro."


	7. Losses and Regrets

*Two things: One- I'm so sorry *beats computer then pats lovingly and proceeds to beat Comcast providers* For about a week and a half I didn't have internet, and then when I went to update fanfiction was down and I had to go to work and never got around to it. So I'm sorry about the wait.

Two- I'm working on a manuscript (as you all probably know by now) and it's nearing completion. Actually, it's finished, and I only have to edit it once more (making this the seventh or eighth read-through) and then I've got a cousin who wants to send it to publishers. The only thing is, he wants to know how my writing is. And I was wondering if some of you would write extended reviews for me? About my writing though, not about the story…if you could I'd be very thankful. My email is ddavis3955@comcast.net thanks a bunch, hope you like the next chapter!*

Chapter Seven: Losses and Regrets 

"Your replacement is on her way Quies," Veneficus told her when she had been summoned to his study. She looked at him curiously.

"My replacement, I haven't felt her, odd. I was almost sure wasn't born on Cephiro, but if you are sure then-"

"It's because she's not of Cephiro," Veneficus informed her swiftly, and cruel reality dawned on Quies.

"No," she whispered. "They have paid their price!"

"Apparently not," Veneficus looked down, remembering only bits and pieces of the blue haired Water Knight. "Not one of them."

"It is Umi, I thought I felt her return though…I did not know it was for this," she didn't know if she could do it, not even for Noctis. 

"She will become the new Keeper of Magic and for four hundred years she'll be your replacement. When you rise again, she'll be trained properly in the Sacred Village to await your next mistake or when you leave entirely," he sounded too calm, too casual.

"No! It isn't right!" she had never once questioned her duty, her punishments, but she questioned Umi's. It wasn't right, why should she be forced to live the rest of an eternity without the one she had been punished for? They both took punishments; she should be able to be with him in peace.

"You're right, but when has life ever been just Quies? You of all people should know what it means to be given great responsibility," his eyes looked sad. He too, bore the price of great responsibility. Quies was so beautiful; he envied Noctis. He saw beauty in the Water Knight, what little he remembered. He would have to stay away from her; he must not be tempted. Tempted, that rang something in him, but he pushed it aside. There were more pressing issues to deal with than the holes in his memory. 

"What about the Magic Knights? There needs to be three of them to deal with Silvius," Quies shook her head, it was all too confusing. There was so much lying on this one decision.

"Yes, Clef will have to summon a new one, Selece will have to be re-revived. The new Knight will have to be retrained. I'm not sure Fuu and Hikaru will like that idea, but they are kind, they will learn," he was taking this too casually. It was an order of business to him, not lives at stake. She had no idea he was doing that for a reason.

"How can you do this Veneficus?" she found herself shouting, and his rainbow eyes flew up onto her.

"How can I do this?" he whispered angrily. "Don't you mean, how can _you_ do this Quies?"

Her eyes filled with realization and regret, "I will be Cleansed," she whispered. "I will be Cleansed."

He nodded, "The right decision. Perhaps a new replacement will be born."

"Not until she dies," Quies pushed back tears and lifted her chin stubbornly. "She will live a long life, a thousand years or more, safe with the Master Mage. She will be well, that is what counts. Cephiro will not suffer another loss, she will not be made a martyr."

§§§~~~

"I am here to deliver the Knights of Cephiro to be Tested. They are not born of here, and they have not been Tested to become the Keeper of Dreams. The Keeper of Magic sent me," Clef told the Gate Keeper who scowled at him but nodded.

"You will stay outside the walls _Mage_," he hissed. "The other three may enter."

Clef bowed his head, and Umi looked back at him. She had awoken on the way, and now rode her own mare. She dismounted and ran to him as he did the same. She buried her head in his chest, and he looked into the gates that were screaming of magic as tears formed in his eyes. He stroked her hair and tried to quiet her sobs, but could barely manage not crying himself. This was not fair, cruel, even for Cephiro. 

"I will not leave you," Umi whispered vehemently. 

"You must," he answered and pulled her away to look into her tear filled blue eyes. Tears that could never fall once she entered those gates. Ever-present tears that would never- could never fall.

"What about the Magic Knights?" Fuu asked softly, hesitantly. "Surely that's an excuse to make Umi stay. There must be three Magic Knights. We must defeat Silvius."

"Silvius will fall once she enters those gates. He will stop hunting; his plot will be foiled. Even so, I will summon another Water Knight, and she will be trained and Selece will be re-revived," he answered calmly, though the tremor in his voice was slightly apparent. 

"Just like I never was?" Umi repeated the words on the door to the Dragon's Den. "_She never was and never will be. You don't know how you've betrayed me_…"

Clef shook his head and pulled her into a tight embrace, "Umi, you'll always be in my heart. I could never forget you; I will never love anyone else."

"Nor will I," Umi laughed bitterly. "So my punishment as Keeper of Dreams is a good one. I will never be able to love anyone else. At least I won't be able to go to the Floor so long as I keep my eye on the dreams and not on you."

He pulled her chin up and kissed her fiercely, blindly. He placed hot, quick kisses all over her face and neck in an effort to kiss away her pain, and his. 

The Gate Keeper slammed his staff into the ground and admitted them entrance, glaring at the two. 

Clef had to let her go as she led her mare into the Sacred Village. As soon as she was beyond those gates he would never see her again. Anger and fear welled in his heart. What would he do without her? He fell to his knees and watched them go, and Umi looked back, and a silver tear slipped down her cheek. She knew it too, she knew she would never return. "Umi!" he shouted as she disappeared into the fog of the Sacred Village and disappeared beyond the magic. "Umi," he whispered, and his shoulders heaved as he sobbed. This wasn't right; this was too cruel, too much. He had done what Cephiro Willed, why were they taking her again, forever this time? "Damn you Selece!" he shouted at the skies and jumped onto his stallion as it reared under its master's fury. 

§§§~~~

"I will be Cleansed," Quies whispered as she walked to Animus' house. She would be Cleansed. She would forget of Noctis, forget he existed; forget the love that burned deep in her soul for him.

She stopped at the door, her hand raised to knock. She had to do it; it was the only right thing to do. Could she live with this? Of course, her mind scolded, you won't remember it. Still, she couldn't force herself to move.

§§§~~~

Noctis stopped short when he saw her. As if a tidal wave flew over him, he remembered everything. He remembered the love they-he had for her. The love that he was sure she would never return. Then, why was she here? At Animus' door, "Quies?" his voice was hesitant. Maybe it was a dream, but then…she wouldn't send him that dream. 

She spun around and closed her eyes, "Good morning Noctis," she smiled, opening her eyes, but it didn't reach her them.

"Quies, what are you doing here?" he inquired, and she grinned.

"Nothing important. Sometimes Animus and I have to talk about the dreams that I've been sending, and her not letting people remember them," she bubbled, and he shook his head.

"Are you here to be Cleansed?"

She gasped and fell back, almost against the door. She felt as if she was being cornered, but he stood a good five feet away, "Why would I have to be Cleansed?" she whispered in a very strained voice. 

"Well, I just…" how could he explain the feeling? The sudden rush of knowledge? "Never mind."

She closed her eyes as he turned, "Noctis," she choked on his name as he turned once more to face her this time. "I…" her heart was pounding. He shouldn't be allowed to look at her that way, with as much compassion and concern as love and worry. He shouldn't be allowed to reach forward like a child, needing a warm embrace and arms to run to. He shouldn't be so perfect in every way. "I will take Banishment, and a replacement can be born, it's not that long," she whispered and ran forward into his arms. She buried her head in his chest and sobbed. 

"Hey, sh…" he whispered and stroked her hair. He was sure she could feel his beating heart pounding heavily between his ribs. "Hey, it's okay."

"No it's not," she mumbled from somewhere under his chin. "It's not, because I love you."

He didn't want to step away, but on instinct he did. "I-" his words were choked. "I-"

"I'll leave," she whispered. "I'll leave the Sacred Village and never return. I don't care anymore, I don't want to live alone."

"And you'll never have to," he whispered finally and kissed her softly. She fell back into his arms and couldn't think of anything but the moment. "You'll never have to, I'll leave with you. Come, let us go speak to Veneficus."

The thought made her situation come back to mind, and she shook her head and began to tremble. She knew how the Keeper of Magic would feel about this; she knew that he would strongly disapprove. She would be lucky if they both didn't get sent to the Floor against their will along with Banishment afterward. "When he finds out, he'll hurt us both very badly."

"What?" Noctis inquired.

"It's the Magic Knight of Water, she's my replacement."

"No," he shook his head. "Impossible, she's not of Cephiro."

"It doesn't matter, she's it, and she's headed here right now to take the Tests. She is to become the Keeper of Dreams only-she's spent four hundred years without him. Veneficus doesn't agree with my decisions. But Noctis, I've spent a lifetime without you," tears rolled down her eyes, and as they did, she realized she would leave. She wasn't allowed to cry for love, and here she did just that. Even if she wasn't to be Banished before, she was going to be now. She had shed tears for selfish reasons. 

"Let us go," he took her hand and led her toward the Palace of the Keepers.

§§§~~~

The three Knights bowed formally to Veneficus, and he bowed back, his smile was wide, and it made them nervous. Had he really been Cleansed? Why was he glad that Umi was giving up everything she loved?

Umi tried not to glower at Quies as she and Noctis stepped from the crowd, holding hands and hesitantly approached Veneficus. All the Keepers around them seemed to gasp in amazement. The three watched, perplexed. That was the reason they were here, wasn't it? Why would the Keepers be shocked? 

The sudden intake of breath forced Veneficus to turn around, and what he saw made his eyes glaze over in anger, "Quies, Noctis," he murmured angrily and gazed at their interlocked hands.

Umi had a sudden desire to see the kind woman sent to the Floor, for a very long time. Four hundred years wasn't enough, an eternity wasn't enough. She wanted to see her flesh dined upon by wolves. A voice in the back of her head told her vengeance wouldn't bring Clef back, but another told her it would ease the pain. The battle raged in her head, so Veneficus' words were blurred.

"This does not look like Cleansing!" he roared, and Quies answered with a tremor in her voice.

"I-I co-couldn't do it. So I-I've ch-chosen to l-leave the Sacred Village," she held her head high despite.

"Leave?" Fuu whispered. "Why? Why not be Punished and then…"

"Because," Quies smiled weakly. "If I leave and lose my powers, a replacement will be born and trained for whatever the new Keeper of Dreams chooses. If I were to go to the Floor, I would come back and there would be no one else except for her. This way there is a chance," she tried not to look at Umi as her head snapped up.

"You were to be Cleansed," Umi whispered and thought about how she could be in Clef's arms that minute if Quies had only chosen another road. And have her abandon her love? Her mind taunted. Not even you are that selfish. 

She tried to think about a few months ago when they had simply read the comics, when they weren't the Magic Knights, when these problems didn't face them. The images were blurry, the images of her eighteen years of Punishment. She remembered the emotion of trying to fill a longing with something though. She tried to cover hers up with anger and strength, a quick temper. Fuu had done the same, with quietness and diligent study. Hikaru had done it with a cheery persona that didn't echo what was inside. They had all be trying to face their Punishments in different ways, even when they didn't know they were Punishments. And now? What now? Now she was being Punished for something she couldn't remember doing. Now Cephiro was unleashing its cruelty on her. 

"And I will leave with her," Noctis announced, much stronger than she had.

"Animus!" Veneficus thundered, and the elderly woman hobbled up to him; leaning on her cane nonchalantly. "One hundred years in the Floor," he growled and the power and Will of Cephiro rung in his voice.

She bowed and vanished. 

"No!" Quies screamed. "It wasn't her fault!"

"But that was," Veneficus pointed to Noctis and glared angrily. He always had been jealous that the Keeper of the Night had stolen Quies' heart. "He remembered you, even after he had been 'Cleansed'," he muttered the word with disdain and pure rage. "Get out of my sight," he whispered. "If you're to leave, leave."

"We are to leave," Noctis glared right back at him and slowly pulled the cloak from around his shoulders, the one that glittered with stars. 

Umi gasped as Noctis handed it to Veneficus, and Veneficus shuddered upon feeling its nothingness grip him. Noctis had taken a huge weight from his shoulders it seemed.

"Calder," Veneficus summoned a young boy from the crowd. Umi guessed he was possibly only twelve years old, or looked to be. His black eyes were the same as Noctis' though. 

The boy kneeled on the ground as Veneficus wrapped the cloak around his shoulders, and as he did, he grew to a boy about sixteen or seventeen, only five or six years younger seeming than Noctis himself. 

"Rise, Noctis, the Keeper of Magic," he ordered, and the boy did so, with the weight of the cloak still new on his shoulders.

The three stared in shock as Noctis turned and kissed Quies, then began to vanish.

"I'll wait for you," he whispered.

"I'll be there soon Blade," she answered, and then he was gone. 

"This night will be your last as the Keeper of Dreams," Veneficus told her, and she bowed her head and disappeared into the crowd. "Come with me Magic Knights," the smile had vanished and was replaced with a grim duty. 

§§§~~~

"Each of you will pass through these rings," Veneficus pointed to a large set of glowing rings. There were three total, all the same size, seemingly made of steel but glowing with power. They stood on great metal stands, but when glowing, they hovered off the metal stands.

"As I thought," Veneficus nodded. "They are glowing because one of you is the one meant for the position that is opening, Keeper of Dreams. They are ready to test you."

"How do we know which one?" Hikaru inquired. She didn't want to admit that Umi was the one. She didn't want to have to admit that another Knight of Water would have to be summoned.

"How do we know it's not you?" Fuu's eyes were sharp. What if this was a ploy? She was suspicious when she had to be, though she didn't like the feeling.

"Because a single person cannot be two Keepers. It's not possible," he made it seem like common knowledge, which made Fuu know it was the truth. "As to answer your question Fire Knight, I'll take you all out of the room and bring you back in one at a time. The one that makes the rings glow will go in."

They nodded and followed him out. There was not a spot of hope left in Umi now. One of them would enter those rings, and they would never again walk the world of Cephiro. They would never leave the Sacred Village. The thought made tears spring to her eyes, tears that could never fall.

"Magic Knight of Fire," Veneficus summoned and brought Hikaru into the room. A few moments later, the two walked out, and Hikaru shook her head quickly.

Fuu walked forward without having to be summoned, as if delaying the inevitable. She too, walked out a few moments later, shaking her head sadly. Both girls ran to Umi and hugged her fiercely. 

"We'll be right here when you get back Umi-chan," Hikaru assured her, and she nodded and followed Veneficus into the room when he summoned her.

"Umi, Knight of Water."

As soon as she stepped into the room, the rings began to buzz and hum, glowing with their power. She gulped and looked at Veneficus who nodded sadly. "I am sorry," he whispered, and she smiled weakly.

"Me too, but I walk the path that was laid at my feet," his eyes widened at her words before he looked at the ground and shook his head again. 

"Then you will enter the rings. Any one Umi, they all do the same thing, though I cannot tell you what they do, only the Keeper of Dreams knows. For every Keeper they are different. It will be hard Umi, some people do not come out of those rings alive, and some do not come out at all, others come out mad. Whatever happens in there, you must survive and live to tell the tale. We have no one else," his voice was pleading, then changed to formal. "You have no other choice, now you must enter the Rings of the Test and let them decide if you are worthy to become the Keeper of Dreams."

She nodded and swallowed hard to bring moisture to her mouth so she could respond, "I will do what you ask Veneficus," she knelt down and kissed his hand before turning around to face the rings. She gulped once more and wiped away threatening tears before choosing the ring on the far right and walking inside. 

*This chapter kinda sucked, the next will be better, I promise. Until then, ja ne.*


	8. The Rings of the Tests

*So…much…homework. Sorry this was so late, and it's really all I could do to get it up tonight, so it's not edited or anything *sweat drops*. I hope it's not too terrible though! Oh, and I have to give credit to the concept of the Rings of the Test to Robert Jordan, I didn't think of them, only the actual test. His books are amazing, I would recommend them to anyone who loves fantasy.*

Chapter Eight: The Rings of the Test

"So now you bear the scars," he shook his head and laughed cruelly. "So now you see what my life was like for four hundred years while you served punishment. Now you come to me and ask revenge."

"If I will never have her in my arms again I want only to see the blood of those who took her from me," he responded more calmly than he felt. 

"What an odd twist of events. Never, I would have never thought that you'd give up your ways, no matter how Cephiro turned on you-"

"I loved her, and she was stolen from me! I served an exile without her for four hundred years only to regain her and have her taken again, only permanently this time! I shall never forgive Cephiro or the Keepers or that damn Dragon that stole her from me!" his words were not his, those cruel words could not be pouring from his mouth, but they were. His whole body was numb to the world around him. Hate was the dominant emotion; he could taste the revenge, fresh in his mouth. He would have it; he would stop at nothing to get it. So this is what it was like for Silvius, he mused and smiled slightly.

"Yes you will do, you will do," he grinned at his new partner.

§§§~~~

The world around her seemed to fade away, but she was aware that she was being tested, somehow strangely aware. Still, when the images began to form she couldn't help but smile innocently and walk around the field filled with wild flowers. Well, if this was the test it wouldn't be so bad. 

She grinned and waved at Fuu and Hikaru as they walked up to her, but her smile faded when she realized they were wearing their armor, their swords were drawn and they were soaked in blood. 

"Fuu! Hikaru!" she screamed and ran toward them, but before she could reach them there was a figure cloaked in black in front of her. 

"They're mine now," it whispered, and the voice was oddly familiar.

"Clef?" she reached out to the figure, not even thinking of the danger.

"Damn the Dragon that lives inside of you!" he shouted and threw back the cloak revealing violent blue eyes. "I'll kill him!"

"Clef!" tears filled her eyes as she realized that Clef was beating Fuu and Hikaru with magic. He whispered words of spells and new places on their bodies began to drip with blood. They swung out helplessly, but there was no way they could stop him. "Clef!" she ran forward but was only thrown back by an invisible wall of magic. 

"Akai Inazuma!" Hikaru's attack was so weak that it was merely reflected off of the shield and thrown back at her.

"Iyashi no Kaze!" Fuu's barrier couldn't protect Hikaru from damage, but the flaming arrow was weak, so she managed to stay standing. 

"Clef why are you doing this?" Umi screamed, and he shook his head, his blue eyes sad and tender.

"Why are you doing this?" he repeated, and she reached for him, but he threw her back again.

A glowing ring in the distance made her think of the test. She had to go back, she couldn't deal with this. But how was she to live with abandoning her friends? She had to save them, and then she would go back, but the ring was shrinking. She couldn't decide; things were racing through her mind.

'It's a test!' 

'These are my friends!'

'It's a test!'

'But this couldn't have come from nowhere!'

'Run!'

She followed this one and headed toward the slowly shrinking rings, diving through it as it vanished behind her. 

*

She hit the cold stone and choked on her tears, trying to keep in the contents of her stomach. Clef…

Two strong arms were lifting her up and off of the floor, and she met Veneficus' strange colored eyes, and shook her head, "No, it wasn't real," she whispered and pulled away. As she backed away she headed toward the rings, and had to back away the other way, cornered between Veneficus' outstretched hands and the glowing rings. "No!" she screamed and fell into fits of sobbing again.

"It wasn't real," Veneficus mumbled softly, visions of his test filled his mind. "It was merely a dream, but…you have lived. You will now become the new Keeper of Dreams."

"Clef!" Umi screamed, and it echoed through the castle and fell into the streets. Every Keeper in the city shuddered and felt her pain through wounds of their own.

*

"We have to see her! You can't throw us out! We have to!" Hikaru screamed, and Fuu nodded emphatically.

"The Keeper of Dreams can attend to no human, and you have not passed the tests, so you are not a Keeper. You must leave," the Gate Keeper was telling them angrily as they were escorted from the Village, more like dragged from the Village though.

Hikaru was blatantly facing the other direction and trying to march toward the fading Palace while Fuu would try to seem submissive and then bolt away toward the castle. No matter what they did, they were no match for six Keepers all at the height of their powers. 

"We promised we'd be there!" Fuu shouted. "We swore to her!"

"And be there in spirit you shall," the Keeper of Emotions was telling them while trying to keep from crying at the emotions that she felt in the two. 

"We swore!" now Hikaru was crying. "Umi-chan!" she screamed, and once again all the Keepers in the city were forced to shudder and revisit old wounds.

*

'It cannot be,' the image was barely visible, seemingly a floating serpent in an ocean of black. His scales flashed blue and silver as he glided through the nothingness. 'Surely it cannot be.'

'It is true Selece,' the gold and green feathers glinted as the powerful beak opened in a wordless call. 

'We have seen it for ourselves,' the great Lion appeared from nowhere, wreathed in flame, standing proud and tall, but with sad eyes. They were all connected to one another, and this was a loss for them all. 

'A new Knight will have to be summoned,' the Phoenix tried to sound apathetic, but pain shown there. 

Selece tried to keep from roaring his fury, but his reply came out in a low growl, 'We will get her back. I will not see her pay this price and then be forced to live a life of solitude. She will die in there!'

'Selece it is against our laws. We cannot go against the Will of Cephiro,' Rayearth tried not to put himself in Selece's place. He didn't want to think of what he would do. 

Selece's mind was torn. He was ancient, as old as Cephiro itself, but he had served four centuries of punishment to be reunited with the Magic Knight of Water that had stolen his heart. Seeing her slip through his fingers was a pain he could barely take, 'Umi!' This time, all of Cephiro shuddered.

*

"Where is he?" Fuu swatted her tears angrily.

"He said he'd wait," Hikaru chorused Fuu's actions and glared, adding to the effect of the motion.

"Maybe he couldn't stand it. He knew it would be her. We can't blame him," Fuu tried to push away another onslaught of tears.

"Come on Fuu-chan, we'll figure a way out of this," Hikaru patted Fuu's shoulder affectionately.

"But how? What is there left to do? Another Keeper is being born this very moment, but it may be generations in Cephiro until they're even old enough to come here, let alone be trained. And what if she gets sent to that horrid Floor for some reason? Hikaru-san, she's not even allowed to cry at losing the love of her life!"

"So now you know the punishments of the Keepers," both spun and watched the man slip from the shadows the trees provided.

"Why would Cephiro do this to her? She's already served her punishment for a crime we don't even understand!" Hikaru screamed, enraged, clenching her fists in a weak attempt to hold in tears.

"So Cephiro isn't so perfect as you thought?" his jet black eyes glinted maliciously.

"We never…it always…" Hikaru fumbled, and his smile widened. But she had, despite the Pillar system, despite the wars, Cephiro had grown, and now it was perfect, now it was. Except, there was this one major flaw.

"You see now, your precious Cephiro is darker than you believed. I have what I want now though, or will shortly. Still, preach the punishments of the Keepers. Tell Cephiro of our plight and maybe the strength of their Will will save them," his expressions seemed drawn. "Does being mortal have this effect?"

"What?" Fuu inquired.

"I feel my end, I feel myself growing and moving toward death," he shook his head almost in weariness. "A sad end, but…far away."

"How can you know it's a sad end?" Hikaru inquired with deep sympathy in her flame-ridden eyes.

"No matter how happy the story, whenever the end comes it is sad, because there is no longer anymore left. Don't look troubled Magic Knights; dark thoughts have always suited me, mortal or immortal. I still am the same person, after all," his smile never seemed to touch his eyes. 

"What will you do?" Fuu persisted.

"I will wait for Alianore, and then we will find Silvius and try to bring him back to the way of the light. No matter what Guru Clef believes I know Silvius will stop at nothing to see Cephiro brought down around itself. Just because he has yet to gain Umi does not mean he does not still want Selece's blood," his voice still carried the weight of power, even without his title. They both quickly realized the man in front of them was practically bursting with magic. 

"Do you have magic?" Hikaru asked bluntly, and he almost smiled.

"You didn't think Veneficus would leave us out here newborn kittens did you?" he shook his head. "No, for as jealous as Veneficus is, he wouldn't abandon a fellow Keeper. Now, may I ask the same question of you? What will you do, Magic Knights?"

Hikaru and Fuu turned and looked at one another, realizing they didn't know what to do, "I guess we have to go back and wait for the Water Knight to be summoned," Fuu's voice was cracked and choked.

"No," Hikaru shook her head. "No, we will…we will go on! We will go with Noctis, and whoever this Alianore is, though I'm not sure Quies will be pleased…" Hikaru looked at him again, cocking her head. "Who exactly is Alianore?"

This time the smile reached his eyes and he shook his head, "The thing is, Keepers have titles all in their name. Noctis is the title of the Keeper of the Night, just as Quies is the title of the Keeper of Dreams. When a new Keeper is raised the name is passed on. My First Name, the one before I entered the Sacred Village, the one I used during my training, is Blade. Quies' is Alianore. Because we are no longer Keepers, we can no longer use the titles. The new Keeper of Dreams will assume that name, that title," quickly his smile faded and the mood became somber. After a while, he broke the silence, "We would welcome you if you truly do wish to stay with us, only I fear that would be a break in custom. You cannot go without a Magic Knight of Water; it has never been done. It would be betrayal to Cephiro, but the choice is yours."

There was barely a moment of pause before Hikaru stepped forward, her voice angry, "Cephiro be damned," as the words left her mouth she could barely believe they were hers. Still, Fuu's clenched fists showed she meant the same, and it was silently agreed upon that they would not be there to greet the new Magic Knight of Cephiro.

*

"It's tugging on me," Clef whispered and closed his eyes as sweat overtook him. "It's…duty…so heavy…" 

"Fight it!" he hissed and held back just barely from hitting the Master Mage. The fool couldn't even fight off a simple spell.

"It's…so strong…" sweat poured down his back so his robes clung to him like new skin. He could feel her, the Magic Knight of Water. She was in the tower, near the portal, waiting…simply waiting. 

A smile crept upon his lips and he shook his head, why hadn't he thought of it before? "If you summon her, we will get Selece right where we want him. Vulnerable, a new Magic Knight, maybe even before he can be revived to his full strength."

Clef nodded, more to get rid of the pain than to cause any harm, "Yes," he somehow managed a grin almost as ruthless. He raised his arms and began the intricate workings of the Summoning Spell, almost heaving his chest in relief as the pain slipped away.


	9. Banishment

*Also not edited, but out, and six pages *whistles* that's the best I've done in a while. Hope you enjoy!*

Chapter Nine: Banishment

She was gathered in a huge room, and it seemed like all the Keepers in the Sacred Village were there. Actually, they were, Veneficus had threatened Punishments to all that wouldn't come. 

She stood in the middle of the ring of Keepers, that cursed Floor beneath her. She rose her head, proudly, not to keep her eyes from the Floor, and it seemed like all the eyes in the room were on her. She managed not to shudder or turn her eyes or lower her head once, she thought absently that Clef would be proud. The thought made her want to cry, but she knew she couldn't. 

Veneficus stood next to her, so close that his rainbow eyes seemed to glint. She managed not to shudder and instead averted her eyes to Quies who stood just toward the center of the ring of Keepers with her head lowered. She wasn't making an attempt to look into any of the eyes that probed her with questions.

"Umi, girl from another world, chosen to become a legendary Keeper, to protect Cephiro, do you understand your duty?" with Veneficus' first words the entire room went still.

Umi could feel the ceremony as she opened her dry mouth, "I do," and forced herself to speak.

"And you, Umi, Child of the Keepers, do you come here with a clear mind and heart?" Veneficus' mind rang with authority.

"I do," Umi answered in that same apathetic tone.

"And do you accept your duties and welcome with open arms the Punishments that come with the Title?" he continued.

"I walk the path," she thought again that Clef would be proud. There was only a slight tremor in her voice when she said that. Veneficus had instructed her beforehand; saying she did not accept was not an option. It meant hours of torture until she was ready to accept. 

"Step forward Umi, into the Sacred Village and bask in our embrace until it was time for you to truly walk the path," again with the ceremony. Umi flushed in anger but kept her calm.

The Keepers broke out into applause, and Umi allowed herself a small smile that couldn't reach her eyes before something pulled inside her and her eyes widened as she held back a shriek. 

Her eyes fell down to her clothes as her armor began to fade and her ovum vanished. The ocean roared so loud in her ears that she thought they would explode, until suddenly…it was gone. She was gone, her essence. This time she couldn't stop the blood-curdling scream that fell from her lips.

§§§~~~

"So Umi has been chosen as Keeper of Dreams," Ferio bowed his head solemnly as the others gazed down at the girl that lie still on the bed in front of them.

"Then where are Hikaru and Fuu?" Caldina puzzled, and Lantis and Ferio's eyes dropped. 

"Many hours have passed since I last felt Hikaru. She and Fuu are far from here," Lantis answered solemnly.

"Windam came to me in a dream. They have both recovered their memories, but his tears were blood. I'm afraid Hikaru and Fuu are getting themselves into more Punishment. And we are helpless!" his words were filled with enough pain to make anyone think twice about getting in his way.

"Where is Clef in all this?" Presea inquired, but the change of subject was not a pleasant one.

"He summoned her; he must be nearby," Ascot puzzled.

"I've taught you well then," Clef strode into the room and smiled. He seemed more than a little distraught. His robes were torn, and his hair was falling from his headpiece in lavender waves. It seemed almost that years of grime had collected on his clothes, and rings surrounded his eyes. Bruises dotted his face and scratches looked infected. For only disappearing a little over two days Clef looked the worse for wear.

"Guru?" Ascot rushed to his side, and Clef turned to stare at him with blank sapphire eyes.

"Hai?"

"Are you… all right?" the question Ascot voiced was obviously illogical. 

"Of course. Ah! This must be Alliandre," Clef looked down at the girl and smiled. The only problem, was that the smile was perturbed; it was mad.

"Maybe you should lie down," Ascot suggested hesitantly.

"Maybe…" Clef mumbled then nodded to a voice in his head almost, "Yes! Exactly!" then left as abruptly as he had entered.

Those in the room exchanged nervous glances with one another before turning to face the girl from another world. 

§§§~~~

Umi picked herself off the Floor and blinked drowsily. All the Keepers were still assembled behind her, 'Funny,' she thought wearily, 'I don't remember falling asleep.'

Veneficus cleared his throat loudly and Umi's cheeks flared as she collected the cloak that had fallen when she stood. She pulled it tight around her shoulders and tried to maintain her dignity, 'And I _really_ don't remember taking my clothes off in front of all these people!' With that thought she pulled the cloak tighter and blushed even heavier.

"In these um…circumstances I'd like to allow the Child a chance to obtain some…ahem…proper attire…" Veneficus wasn't going to deny his eyes the sight though. As they ran up and down her an amused grin fell into place on his face. She held her head high and acted as if nothing unusual was happening. He nodded in what could be mistaken as approval and then turned his eyes to Quies.

'The nerve! Testing me out as if I'm a new mare just come from weaning!' Umi growled in her head. 

Mentis chuckled behind a hand, and Veneficus glowered at her openly. She ducked her head but didn't stop laughing.

"Now, unless you can't wait a moment longer will you show your new apprentice to her room and get her decently clothed?" Veneficus demanded angrily. 

"Of course," Quies dipped a quick curtsey and grabbed Umi's arm before leading her out.

"Oh Umi, may I have my cloak back?" Veneficus inquired as the Keepers parted.

Umi's face flared as she spun indignantly and thought of curses that had Mentis howling in laughter. This time Veneficus didn't glare, merely smiled softly and watched her go. 

*

"The nerve of that man!" Umi screamed as she pulled her blue hair from beneath her dress. She threw a ball of cloth that was Veneficus' cloak on the bed and turned to look in the mirror. She smiled sadly and traced a thin silver chain with her fingers. Clef had slipped it into her saddlebags, and she had just discovered it now. It was a tiny silver heart that held a sapphire in the middle. The stone was held in place by intertwining silver vines. She turned away from her image when Quies stepped behind her, head bowed meekly, hands seemingly writhing around once another, "What's wrong Quies?"

"I'm sorry Umi- I never thought, I mean-I could have-" she couldn't seem to find the words.

"Quies," Umi put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. "I walk the path," since saying the words she had felt them deep in her soul. "I would have had to come here sometime. You are leaving everything you know so that someday I may have a chance. I'm eternally grateful for that."

"Arigato Umi," Quies threw her arms around the formed Magic Knight on the brink of tears. She pulled away and considered the new Keeper of Dreams, almost weighing her. "You are the image of power."

Umi cocked her head, trying to find a way to respond to the odd compliment- or, at least, she thought it was a compliment, but she couldn't be sure. 

"Don't let it go to your head Umi. Just remember, you've found love, and he will wait for you. Don't ever doubt that. Don't get lost in the dream, because without a Keeper to replace you Cephiro will weep for days on end if you are Punished. You will walk the path my Child, but do not let it consume you," Umi closed her eyes. How could she ever think…? She was too selfish for this job. She would never be able to be as strong as Quies. Still, she buried her thoughts and forced a smile.

"Arigato Quies, but now let us go."

Quies nodded and followed her out. 

§§§~~~

"I never thought I'd live to see another Magic Knight summoned to Cephiro," Ferio grumbled unhappily. Fuu's disappearance weighed heavily on him. She had to be feeling this! He was going crazy with worry. All he wanted to do was console his angel, and she was miles away. He wanted to scream in frustration. 

"I had _hoped_ I would not live to see it," Lantis' mood seemed to seem the same, so cold and apathetic, but inside he was seething in anger and pain.

"Well, it has come and…" Ascot sighed and shook his head.

"What are we going to do?" Presea asked softly.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do," Clef stepped into the room, and they gasped. Clef seemed to have gone into mourning. His white robes had been replaced by jet black ones, and his staff seemed to have corroded in his grip, a color to match his robes. His headpiece was dark purple with a black stone in the middle that shone like obsidian. He was the image of despair, but his eyes were the worst. His eyes made them all shudder and step back; they were dark and cold. He was missing everything that made him a man. He was missing his soul. "We're going to go to Aliandre and greet her as we should greet a Magic Knight of Water."

Presea exchanged nervous glances with Caldina before they all followed Clef out.

§§§~~~

She laughed and shook her head; her long golden locks flew freely behind her. Her laughter was a music tinkle, a light sound, fit for a Water Knight, "This is the weirdest dream ever!" she shouted with obvious glee. "My dream people have never tried to convince me I'm not dreaming before!"

The others shook their heads in wonderment.

"Unbelievable," Ferio muttered.

"This is the fourth time we've tried to explain," Ascot stared in disbelief. 

"Jeez! Not even Umi was this hard to convince!" Caldina shouted, then recoiled when she saw darkness grow in the room "G-gomen." 

"It's okay Cal, it's good to remember her," Ascot put a hand on her shoulder and blinked back tears.

"For the fifth and final time," Clef sighed and began again. "You are-"

"Wait a second…" the new Water Knight looked at them with stormy gray eyes. "When have I ever been able to control what I do and say in dreams?"

Everyone in the room nodded as she continued with her epiphany.

"So I must be becoming psychic or something! How cool!" she grinned triumphantly as everyone else groaned.

Ferio sighed heavily, "This might be awhile," his eyes strayed over Cephiro. She was out there somewhere, alone, lost, his, "Fuu-chan…"

§§§~~~

Fuu looked up, startled, and Noctis and Hikaru glanced her way.

"What's wrong Fuu-chan?" Hikaru inquired.

"N-nothing," Fuu waved it off as Noctis settled back into his cross-legged position on the ground, and Hikaru resumed pacing. 

Fuu looked toward the heat in her heart; she had no need to trace it, only one person could call her with such passion. 'Only a little while longer Ferio; I just have a few scores to settle first and some problems to address, then I'll be back with you. We can finally be together again.' 

Four hundred years of exile tore through her like a bullet. She was frozen where she stood, incapable of movement. All those years, because she loved…it was a test of her love; she had passed. They both had. He was waiting, waiting with open arms. It took all her love and devotion to Umi to keep her from jumping on her roan mare and riding as hard as she could back to the Palace, where she belonged. 'We stood four hundred years, we can stand just a little longer.' "For Umi-san," she whispered. Noctis and Hikaru looked up but didn't say a word. In another moment all three were once again lost in thought.

§§§~~~

"It's time, Quies, step forward," Veneficus boomed over the crowd and a lull immediately followed.

Quies stepped forward as if this was the most sure thing she'd ever done. Umi guessed it was. She held her head high as her white cloak lined in silver gleamed around the room. It was then that Umi saw that all the Keepers wore different cloaks, and all were adjusting them nervously, methodically checking to see if their cloak was still firmly upon their shoulders. All save Quies. She didn't so much as glance at her cloak, or at anything really, as she stepped toward Veneficus.

"For the crimes you have committed you have chosen Banishment as Punishment. Do I speak the truth?" Veneficus questioned, ceremony overtaking his voice.

"That you do, I have strayed from the path. My feet have been cut from beneath me, my blood soils the ground of the Sacred Village and so Banishment is my choice," Quies answered in the same ceremony. 

"Have you an apprentice, Keeper of Dreams, on which to place the burden of your failure?" the cruel words seemed to have no passion with Veneficus speaking in monotone. Quies never flinched, the Keepers never moved. Even Umi managed to contain herself from shifting restlessly; somehow it seemed out of place here.

"I have, Umi Ryuuzaki. She once was a Magic Knight of Cephiro, but she forsook her title and came to the Sacred Village with open arms, stretching toward her duty," now all eyes were on Umi as she stood there, frozen stiff.

"As that may be, she is no longer in Cephiro, she has come to us, to be reborn into her master's failures that she must overcome. Come forth, Umi Ryuuzaki, Keeper of Dreams," Veneficus summoned Umi with a few fingers, and she walked toward him hesitantly, forcing weak legs forward. As she did, the Keepers began to bow, staying low to the ground. She smiled, or tried to, as she approached Quies and Veneficus who stood by the throne in the Palace's throne room.

Quies smiled back, much more assured. She took Umi's arms and kissed each cheek before she turned back to Veneficus. "I submit to the Will of the Sacred Village. Take my apprentice if you would have her."

Veneficus nodded as Quies bowed her head and Veneficus took the cloak from her shoulders. She gasped as her power was ripped from her body, then came back, trembling.

Umi's eyes widened as a surge of energy washed over her. It was possibly one of the most wonderful feelings she'd ever experienced. Tingling filled her body and joy crept into her very being. Her laugh turned into tears which turned into weeping as the cloak settled onto her shoulders. It could have been made of chain mail, not the fine silk it was. Umi almost fell under the sudden weight, "Is this the weight of duty?" she gasped, and Quies nodded, smiling sadly.

"Q-Alianore," Veneficus' voice made both Umi and Quies turn once more. "I will help you," he took her hands and kissed her softly. She pulled back and shook her head, then looked down. "Hey," he laughed and looked down at her. "I obviously didn't expect you to reciprocate. I just thought I'd never get a chance without sending myself to the Floor."

"I understand," she smiled gently, and he reached down and let magic flow through his fingers.

She gasped again and magic sunk deeply into her body, "I feel…warm…" she whispered, and he nodded.

"You now have magic, use it wisely. Let it help you on your travels. Go with our love Alianore," he kissed her forehead, and wiped a tear from her eyes as she began to laugh and cry at the same time.

"Tears…" she whispered and faded from the room. Her body was nearly gone when a single silver tear hit the Floor.


	10. Journeys

Wow, two in two days, I'm impressed with myself. This one is quite long too, seven pages. I also had to reread this entire story, seeing as I haven't updated since last years mutters. This story is a year old and not finished, which's far too long. My goal for the summer is to finish it, so be looking for more updates soon. It's reaching its climax, and after that it's all downhill from there. So I hope you're not too steamed at me for slacking on this update, and I hope it's worth the wait! I can tell you the upcoming chapters certainly will be!

Chapter Ten: Journeys

With the ceremony over, Umi could be free for awhile. Castellum showed her to her rooms, which were in the Palace. She quickly learned that not everyone was graced with rooms inside the Palace walls, that those were reserved for the most powerful Keepers, the Keepers on the Sacred Council. It was a council that consisted of thirteen members, and they made decisions in the Village (as much as their power allowed) and judged cases that could not be judged in Cephiro. She was to be a part of this council.

When she was finally shown her rooms, she ran her hands lovingly over her saddlebags before she opened them and began to unpack what little she'd brought with her. She had barely begun unpacking when there was a knock on the door.

She glided over to it and opened it to reveal the new Keeper of the Night, "Um…hello," she mumbled, and he nodded and attempted a smile.

"I am supposed to speak with you," he informed her. "Veneficus sent me. You and I will work closely together."

"Okay…" Umi looked him over. He was a boy about her age, or seemingly about her age, with dark black hair but bright golden eyes that differed from Noctis', or Blade's, deep black ones. His body was less mature, and his features didn't seem as weathered, nor his tone as bitter, but he had been trained. He'd lived in the Sacred Village for a longer time than she, and he could show her the ways here.

"I know you must be nervous, being thrown into this so quickly, but really, it comes almost naturally once you've passed the tests. At first your powers will be automatic, at least until you've learned. The more you learn, the more you get to understand what you're doing and the more you get to bend your powers to your Will," he explained, and Umi sighed, a great weight lifted from her shoulders. "As a gift to you, the Council has passed on a few of your powers to other Keepers, but this will only last for a short time."

"Other powers?" Umi inquired.

"With your new Title, you inherit two powers. Yours are mind reading and intuition," he explained, and Umi gasped. He pretended not to notice and continued on, "Your gift of intuition was passed to Affectus, the Keeper of Emotions and your mind reading was simply returned to Mentis, the Keeper of the Mind."

She nodded and thanked him softly. Certainly having premonitions and hearing people's thoughts would not be a pleasant first day.

"Affectus will return your power in two days, Mentis will return the other in a week, that's all they're able to hold them for," she nodded her understanding. "Is there any other questions you have that I might help with?"

She shook her head and thanked him meekly before he departed.

She fell onto the bed and looked up at the canopy. Atop it were small white stars that she knew if she reached up to touch would sear her hands. She held back the tears that seared her _eyes_ and tried to push away any thought of him. Before she knew it, the effort of controlling her tears had put her to sleep.

§§§

Fuu and Hikaru slumped near the fire, barely able to move.

Blade watched them warily from nearby, shadowing himself in the swiftly approaching night, "Wonder how Calder, Noctis, is doing," he mumbled, and Hikaru lifted her head to listen to him.

"Well night's come, so I suppose he's doing all right," she smiled, and he laughed and shook his head.

"There's so much more to night than you think."

"What more is there than darkness?" Hikaru inquired, and he pointed upward.

"There's the alignment of the stars, the position of the moon, the _phase_ of the moon. There are the creatures that live in the night, though that falls mostly on Bestia's shoulders. There are the clouds in the sky, the dew on the grass. Everything has to be just perfectly so, especially the moon, because the tides rely on the moon," he answered, and Hikaru blinked rapidly, then shook her head.

"I never even thought of all that. I just took it for granted all this time, that all those things come with night," she sighed heavily and tried to imagine all that she'd been taking for granted all these years. Things these people were being punished for to bring her, things they were losing so that Cephiro, the world, could be beautiful.

"Don't fret over it Fire Knight, it comes with the job," a female voice called behind them, causing Blade to leap to his feet and bound toward her.

"Alianore," he whispered and swept her into his arms.

"Blade," she mumbled against his neck before they pulled away to look at the other two. "They look weak," she whispered, and he nodded.

"They are," he muttered. "The new Water Knight has already been summoned, and they feel the strain."

"We should take them to the Palace, this is not their quest."

"I was planning on it," Noctis turned his back to the two. "How is she?"

"She is…" Quies stopped. "She will do well, only…it should not be the position she is in. Yet, I can do no more, not at the moment."

"We will think of something."

"I hope so," Quies looked to the moon and laughed slightly, "It just shifted," she whispered, and Blade groaned and threw his hands upward to the sky.

"If I've told him once I've told him a thousand times! You must rotate the moon constantly so that it does not seem jerky!"

This caused the other three to laugh while Blade just muttered and began to pack up their saddlebags.

§§§

"What are we to do about Clef?" Presea asked the other anxiously, but they all shook their heads.

"What are we to do about Alliandre?" Ascot demanded angrily. "She _still_ does not believe us! Why?"

"Easy," Eagle muttered, and they all turned to him. "Because the other two have not accepted it yet. She won't see the truth until they've been brought to the palace," here his eyes turned to Lantis and Ferio.

"We will go," Lantis volunteered, and Ferio lowered his head. He knew it would hurt his Wind Knight to be brought back to a palace that was empty of the Water Knight she knew and loved, but for her own sake, and for the sake of his country, it could not be helped. He nodded along with Lantis.

"We'll leave in the morning," Ferio added, and they all thanked them softly and turned their gaze back to the fire. They tried not to shudder at the thought of only _two_ Magic Knights returning.

§§§

Clef sighed angrily and threw the book down, "Nothing! There is nothing!" he shouted.

Silvius appeared before him and picked the book up, folding the pages back into their proper position, "Nothing about what Clef?" he inquired, flipping through the book.

Clef summoned the book to him, snatching it from Silvius' hands and shook his head, "Nothing for you to worry about. It is a problem of my own Silvius. We all must have our secrets."

The other mage growled but did not protest. He knew when to bow down to someone who had more power than he, though, he did not have to be happy about it. "Whatever you wish, Master Mage."

"What do you have planned for Selece?" Clef whispered greedily, and Silvius grinned and took a chair near him.

"We will wait for Fuu and Hikaru to return. We cannot attempt anything without them. Alliandre will not realize she is the Magic Knight of Water without them. Then, when they have returned, we will convince them to abandon the new Knight in search of a way to save their beloved Umi. The new Knight will be vulnerable, but we will let her summon Selece. Then, outside the Water Temple, we'll spring. Both of them will be weak, the new Knight with ignorance and Selece with hidden grief. That is the best chance we have. With our combined powers, vengeance will surely be ours."

Clef smiled sickly and nodded, "Yes, we will do that, perfect," he muttered, and Silvius grinned at him and shook his head.

"Yes, it _is_ perfect," he whispered and turned his eyes back to the moon. His eyes narrowed, had it just _shifted?_ No, it couldn't be, but…he couldn't take any chances. "Clef, something's just come up."

"Something? What something?"

"We all must have our secrets," he answered before he disappeared. Clef watched him vanish and nodded to himself.

"Secrets."

§§§

Every step nearer the palace they came the more energy seeped back into their veins. By the time they were outside the gates, they were themselves again.

"Are you sure this is where we'll find Silvius?" Hikaru inquired. "It's awfully close to the palace."

"He'll want to monitor it," Alianore assured her, tightening the Willing spell carefully. Their Wills were insanely strong, and at the end of the journey she was exhausted. The Willing spell didn't control them exactly, just pushed them in the right direction. She knew they wanted to go back to the palace to see the men they loved, but their duty to Umi was stronger, so she played on that and turned their Will more to their loved ones, convincing them it was for duty. The spell convinced them that returning was _for_ duty while their Will pushed them back to the palace. It was a helpful little trick, but uncannily difficult on these two. _Stubborn_, she thought to herself.

Sounds like someone else I know, Blade laughed in her mind, and she turned in her saddle to glare at him. They'd discovered during the night that Veneficus had also granted them mind-speech. It was a signature of the Keepers, but fortunately, not a very known one.

As if on cue, Lantis and Ferio came tearing out of the palace on horseback. They'd not ridden a hundred meters before they realized they were riding _past_ the things they sought and headed back to the other two.

"Fuu!"

"Hikaru!"

They reigned their animals next to the group, and Alianore released the spell, sighing heavily. _Thank you,_ she muttered in her mind, and Blade gave her an encouraging smile. He'd seen the toll it was having on her, but he also knew it was necessary.

"Ferio!"

"Lantis!"

"What are you-" Hikaru began.

"You tricked us!" Fuu shrieked, turning her eyes on Alianore.

"I-" she shook her head, trying to explain. "You would have died, and we need you alive! _They_ need you alive!"

Fuu had no protests to this logic, but she couldn't help but grumble. There was an illogical, yet extremely passionate rage in her stomach, even with Ferio there to ease it.

"The new Water Knight has been summoned," Ferio kept his eyes on the pommel of his saddle, toying with the reins aimlessly. "She needs you two to tell her, or she won't be convinced."

"We have to tell her what happened?" Hikaru inquired softly, meeting Lantis' eyes. Even he was forced to turn away from them, and her exile hit her. He'd turned his eyes away like this before…once before. The darkness clouded her memory, but she shook it away. She had time to reflect later, now Cephiro needed her. _Already, _she thought bitterly, _already I've forgotten about Umi and turned my eyes on Cephiro._

"It's the way it has to be for now," Alianore whispered, attempting to console them. "We will return to you as soon as we have news."

"Why?" Fuu demanded angrily to her back, tears of bitterness springing to her eyes. Both she and Blade turned back to the Knights. "Can't face him?" her tongue lashed at Alianore, but she continued despite. She wanted to accept, but something in her wouldn't allow it, "Can't face the man you destroyed? You won't come and look the Master Mage in the eyes and tell him how his love is? You won't tell him what happened to her in there, how she passed the tests and won't return for many years? Why not Alianore? Why not!?"

"Fuu!" Ferio kicked his horse into a gallop as she urged her mare forward, blindly running toward the palace.

"Fuu-chan!" Hikaru pushed her horse forward as well, galloping after the two.

"Quies, Alianore, whoever you call yourself," Lantis allowed himself only a few words. "You may yet live to regret your decision," then he too turned his animal around and headed after the remaining Magic Knights.

Blade pulled his horse near the now sobbing Alianore and wrapped his arms around her, but not even his warmth could console her, "I already do," she whispered through her tears. "As much as I love you, I already do."

"So this is the sickness that drives Keepers mad," he muttered and looked to the heavens, praying for help, from anyone.

§§§

"So you see…" Hikaru turned her eyes downward. "We need you."

Alliandre looked at the small girl, and the confusion vanished from her eyes. "Oh," she mumbled. She wished to ease the girls' pain, yet there was nothing she could say that would help. She knew loss. Her parents had both died when she was young. She'd lived in an orphanage her whole life, in fact, that was who she was with when she was sucked into Cephiro. She couldn't help but be thankful for the change; yet, it seemed she wasn't exactly wanted her either. "I'm sorry."

"You don't-it's not your fault," Fuu managed to choke through her tears. _Umi-san!_

Umi-chan!

"Fuu, Hikaru," Clef's voice was clear and crisp as he entered swiftly, black robes flashing behind him. "Alliandre," the new name stung on his tongue. "Magic Knights," he forced himself to address them.

"Master Mage," Fuu and Hikaru stood formally, and Alliandre jumped to her feet after them. He looked her over, everything about her contrasted with Umi. Her hair was golden and curly; her eyes were a simple but elegant brown. She was shorter than Fuu, by only a hair, yet shorter all the same. Her features were resolute but not with the same stubborn pride that Umi possessed, more with a reserved determination- one that she would only display when she needed it. She was quiet, not nearly as outspoken as his angel. _Stop it_, his mind scolded. _You need to focus on the job at hand._ That returned him to his point.

"I wish to speak with you, only…" he turned his eyes away from Alliandre. "Only you two."

They took one last glance at the new Water Knight before they turned and headed back with the Master Mage.

§§§

"Ah ha," Silvius laughed, appearing before the two. "I thought it might be this."

"Silvius," Blade hissed, moving his horse in front of Alianore.

"I saw the moon…shift…last night, and guessed it might be a new Keeper. You wouldn't slip up like that Blade. I assumed that was the case, since Alianore was forced to serve time. Yet, I didn't think either of you would choose Banishment. You were always so fond of your duties. But, I suppose that's the way life goes. Unfortunately, something about being mortal, is that, you can die," he threw out a hand and magic fell onto the two.

"No!" Alianore screamed and threw up a shield before the magic could touch Blade's flesh.

Arigato, he sighed in her mind.

No problem, she answered, smiling weakly.

"Aw, how cute," he mocked cruelly, and the two turned their attention toward him.

"What are you doing Silivius? You can't match _both_ of us," Blade taunted, and he glared angrily.

"Can't I? How do you know? You haven't lived in this world as long as I. You don't even know what the limits of your magic are, don't know how much you possess, how much Veneficus would grant you. Well, I was able to grant myself quite a lot when I left. The only one who could equal me now is Clef, and he's safely on my side, so, I would worry children. Yet, you did bring them to me, a necessary part of my plan, so I think I'll leave you alive for a little while longer, at least until I have the Master Mage to fight with me."

"Clef?" Alianore's eyes widened in surprise, "What do you mean-"

"Ta ta," he waved childishly and disappeared.

"Well that's curious," Blade growled deep in his throat, and Alianore clenched her fists with the same sentiments.

"He wouldn't…he's spent so long protecting this place…"

"But it seems he would."

"Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions Blade; I'm pretty sure he's got something up his sleeve. He's trickier than Silvius thinks."

"Or maybe you're overestimating him," Blade muttered angrily.

"I don't think so," she pondered. "Somehow, I don't think so."

§§§

Umi looked around her worriedly. Where was she? She knew she had just been in the Palace of the Keepers, so now where was she? Everything was dark, except for glittering lights in the distance. She danced over to them and smiled blissfully. She felt oddly…free. It was the first time she didn't feel like dying since she'd gained this God-awful cloak. Her fingers trailed down the silk sadly. If only…_no,_ she scolded herself. _Things are not different, and you have a job to do, so you're going to do it to the best of your ability. Deal with it._

She nodded and set her jaw; she would do her job. She just needed to figure out what it was first.

As if something unseen had heard her thoughts, she began to float closer and closer to the lights. As she approached, she realized each light was a different person, and each person was asleep. Some were fuzzier than other ones, while some were bright illuminating her with a blinding light. Those were the ones she headed for first. Something in her told her the brighter the light the closer the person was to sleep. Those that were barely visible were going to be sleeping in the future. This way, she could plan dreams ahead, allowing herself time to breathe, because, inevitably, someone was always dreaming. That was why she could never fall in love. _Hm…curious…I wonder what that voice is._ She sighed to herself and guessed she didn't need to know before she set off to her work.

So she went about her work. She would enter the mind of every person and plant a seed. Sometimes, she would bend down and look what was in the seed, but it was always vague and confusing, and other times she would just trust that strange knowing voiceless voice that was leading her forward. She did this to all the people that were blazing, then moved to those who were just faintly glowing. She gasped when she saw that Clef was one of those.

"No," she begged the voice that was controlling her. "No, please don't make me do this." Yet, it was her job, so she reached forward and entered his mind just like every other person, as if he was no different. This time though, she pushed herself _into_ the seed and was able to watch the dream as it happened.

"Umi!" he shouted, throwing himself toward the Knight whom was fading in his arms.

"Gomen nasai Clef," she whispered softly, blood staining her lips. "I'll see you soon…"

"No," he begged, crying gently into her soft blue hair. "Damn you Selece! Damn you! Why do you take her from me over and over again? Why!? Why must you torment me?!"

She ripped away from the dream and backed up. Strange, why was the voice sending Clef _this _dream. Again, right on cue, the voice pushed her forward into him once more, where she planted a second seed. This time, the dream was much different.

He laughed warmly as she exited the Sacred Village. It faded behind her, but everything looked the same. They were just the same, though their eyes showed years of wear. She bounded to him, throwing her arms tightly around his neck as he showered her with kisses.

"I will never_ let you go again," he vowed, and she let her first tears of love fall in a hundred years._

"I pray you won't ever have to."

An ultimatum? She pondered the idea. Why would Clef be given two different roads to travel? But, before she could examine it further, the strange voice, yet not voice, pushed her on. There was more work to do yet this night. She looked back once more at the faintly glowing image, taking deep breaths to control her sobs.

§§§

"Fuu, Hikaru, I need to tell you something," Clef told them, taking them into his study.

"What is it Guru?" Fuu inquired worriedly. Something about the rings around his eyes was not right; something in his body screamed…displaced. She knew he would be hurting about Umi, but this was different. This was…not him…almost.

"I, I might have done something that could endanger you, and all of Cephiro," he answered her question while he contemplated the ground.

"What do you mean?" Hikaru cocked her head to the side, while Fuu's eyes narrowed. Endangering Cephiro? He'd suffered so long for Cephiro, why would he choose to endanger it now but for…vengeance…she tried to keep the thought hidden, but as soon as she had it the surprise showed on her face, and Clef knew she knew.

"Listen to me, I don't have much time to explain; you'll just need to trust me. Can you do that?"

Fuu wanted to scream no, but Hikaru had already quickly agreed to do as he said. Knowing that the only way to protect Hikaru was to stay with her, Fuu nodded stiffly.

"Good, now, you must not go with Alliandre on her journey to revive the Water Dragon. You must instead go to a city called Foret de la Neige. There's a great library there, and in it you may find an answer to the Keepers Code. There's something that controls them, something even above the Will of Cephiro, above Mokona. If you can find out what it is and persuade it to help Umi, we may be able to save her and all the Keepers."

"Will Alliandre be all right to travel on her own?" Hikaru questioned.

"She will be fine, I'm having Ascot go with her, and if something happens I'll be sure to contact you right away," he assured them, and Fuu watched his every action with a careful glance. He was up to something, she just didn't know what.

"We will do whatever we can to save Umi-chan, Guru," Hikaru vowed, clenching her fists, and he smiled, looking relieved, and thanked her quietly.

"Fuu?" his eyes turned to the Wind Knight who was snapped out of her contemplation.

She nodded, "I go wherever Hikaru does. It would not do to lose another one of my friends," she caught Clef's eyes and held them dangerously, warning him not to try anything that would harm anymore of her loved ones.

"I know precisely how you feel," he answered her eyes, and she nodded, the truce made, and the two turned to leave for their journey.

Dun dun dun, I know you have questions, grins I actually had to dig through my brain to remember what _I _wanted to do with this story, but I figured it out, eventually. Um…if you've read this chapter and decided that I'm worthy of your time, even after all this time, I bow down to you and thank you very much for your reviews! New chapter soon! I promise! Arigato! .


	11. AffectusThe Keeper of Emotion

Hey everyone! I think you're all still mad at me (cries). Gomen gomen gomen, I'm sorry I disappeared, really I am, please don't abandon me! (hugs readers close) I have no will to continue if I don't get reviews! I don't even care if they're bad! If they're bad I just want to work to improve. I really am sorry, but now that I finally have a desire to write again no one remembers me! Well…I suppose there's no helping it. I'll just have to convince you that my work is still worth reading (puts on resolute face) yep yep, here it is!

Chapter Eleven: Affectus- The Keeper of Emotion

She sighed to herself, unable to admit that this place wasn't stunningly beautiful. The streets were paved and all brand new, the houses quaint and warm, the people carried on as if they were just like everyone else, as if their business was just as simple and easy. There was one lingering thought in her mind though- it wasn't.

"Quies! Quies!" she heard a voice shouting behind her and spun. Where was Quies? Her eyes darted, she'd come back to save her and…she faltered when the Keeper approached her. _Oh yes, _her mind reminded her glumly, _you're Quies now._

"Yes?" she forced the word from her throat. Even that seemed to hurt her. It was as if, because she was accepting the name, she was accepting the fate. But then…did she have a choice?

"I'm Affectus," the man introduced himself, bowing slightly. She looked him over closely. He was a man about fifty, or so it seemed; though Umi knew he was much more ancient than that. His hair was a silver flecked black, and the clothes he wore were plain. There was no armor in the Sacred Village; she'd learned that lesson the hard way. Instead, he wore black breeches and a white shirt covered by his cloak that seemed to shift color. She stared at it curiously. "It changes with the emotion that I feel around me," he informed her, and she nodded, that made sense. He _was_ the Keeper of Emotion, after all.

"Is there something you wanted from me?" something about his expression told her that he wasn't here for a chat. None of the Keepers seemed to simply chat. They all seemed to have some agenda, some purpose. Even those milling about in the street took determined steps, as if each had been planned out and planted directly in front of them. Those words echoed in her mind- _We walk the path._

"I'm to instruct you on your intuition, as much as I can in the day and a half we have remaining," he explained, and her heart sank. _That's right…I have more that I have to do…_

"Of course," she bowed her head slightly, and he led her to a nearby house, which he seemed to share with a petit woman with gray hair that scurried out with barely a hello. The house was small and made of stones like all the others. The roof was constructed of hay; it never rained in the Sacred Village either, the Keeper of the Weather took care of that. She glanced at the woman as she walked into the street before she sighed and returned to the Keeper of Emotions.

§§§

Clef sighed heavily, praying that they would find something, and quickly. He knew that Silvius was growing impatient with his secrets. His hands clenched as he stared out to the sea, _just a little more, _he assured himself. _Just a little more and then you'll have what you need to free her._

But what was it? Anger pounded fiercely in his heart, for the love of the creator he could not find out what it was! He'd searched, endlessly; he'd searched to no avail. Sending Fuu and Hikaru to Foret de la Neige seemed the best chance, but he still worried. Would they be able to find it? He knew it would be better if he'd gone, faster, but his place needed to be by Alliandre's side as she and Ascot departed for the Water Temple.

His eyes strayed to his crystal, reminding himself that _was_ his duty. He had to remind himself at least a hundred times a day. As hard as he tried he couldn't break through the magic that protected the Sacred Village and even if he could he wouldn't be able to stand seeing her but being unable to touch her. _Fuu, Hikaru, please come back with something that will save her…_

"What are you thinking about?" a rough voice asked behind him, and he turned, slowly, giving himself time to wipe all emotion except anger from his eyes.

"Vengeance," he responded simply. His own voice scared him anymore; that wasn't how a Master Mage was supposed to sound. Yet, even though it was a farce, he felt the blood rush to the surface and fill his body with life. He knew he wanted vengeance, but there was no one to extract it on, not yet anyway.

"In time my friend," Silvius came forward and clapped Clef's shoulder. "Just give it time."

"She left this morning," Clef told Silvius after a silence. He approached his crystal, and Silvius followed curiously. "She is already at the Forest of Silence," he waved his staff over the large ball and showed him an image of the new Water Knight, accompanied by Ascot and two of his friends, making their way through the Forest.

"Good, very good. She will soon arrive at the Water Temple and there we will be able to meet her."

Clef nodded numbly, "Yes, there we will meet her."

§§§

Alliandre sighed heavily as she and Ascot made their way through the forest, "So this girl, Umi, what was she like?"

Ascot closed his eyes and shook his head, "Like nothing else," he responded quietly, and Alliandre sobered, "She was…beautiful," he laughed slightly. "With gorgeous blue hair that fell down her back in elegant waves and the body of a dancer, though she would hate it if you said it. She was fiery too, much too fiery for a water element," this made a small giggle escape Alliandre, and he turned to smile at her. "She had a temper, that one did. But the people loved her; she was their Princess, their savior. We never understood…back then…that she was hurting so badly. We never saw it in either of their eyes until Selece sent her away."

"So she was punished for loving?" Alliandre closed her eyes. How badly would that destroy her?

Ascot nodded, "Magic Knights are not supposed to love, a Princess of Cephiro devotes her heart only to the people. So he sent her away, and Clef took his solitude and exile in child form until the day that she would return. When she did, she was easily whisked away again, her memories of love fresh on her mind. Now, she's unable to love for completely different reasons."

"That's so sad," Alliandre whispered softly. "I just…it's hard to believe that such a beautiful world could have such an ugly system."

"It…" how was he supposed to explain the right of it? After seeing Umi, after seeing the rings under Clef's eyes and the tears running down Presea and Caldina's cheeks, after seeing himself be haunted by her loss, how was he supposed to defend Cephiro? "I suppose-"

"Sh…" she hissed, stopping him, "Did you hear that?"

"I didn't-" but then he did, a slight snarl in the distance. "We've cleared the Forest of monsters."

"Maybe you missed one or two," Alliandre answered swiftly and summoned her sword. The silver blade flashed, and Ascot shook his head. It was so strange, to see Umi's sword in another's hands.

"Do you know how to use that?" he questioned as the growl seemed to come closer toward them.

"Sorta," she answered in a whisper. "I used to play-fight in the orphanage with sticks or rulers."

"Uh oh," he groaned, but he noticed a flashing set of yellow eyes and jumped back, startled.

She saw it too and charged forward, holding her sword in front of her.

The thing lunged at the same time and managed to land right on top of her sword. She screamed when the blade sunk into flesh and dropped it, as it flew back into her ovum. With the creature breathing heavily on the ground, Ascot was able to go close and examine it. He gasped when the monster faded away into nothing before his very eyes.

"It was an illusion summoner," a cold voice told them, and Ascot turned on his heels to face Silvius.

"Get back," Ascot ordered, and Alliandre summoned her sword with shaking hands. She tried to clear her mind, but she was scared. She had never actually used a sword, and the feeling of her blade sinking into something else's flesh haunted her. It was a weapon of death, and the fact hit her hard.

"I'm not here to fight you," Silvius snapped. "I would much rather have her alive," a sick smile played on his lips. "Yes, much rather have her alive. I'm here to test you, see what your strength is," this he addressed to Alliandre who cowered slightly and took a step back. "And it doesn't look good Water Knight," he laughed. "Well, since I seem to have collected all my data, I think I'll be going. But we'll be meeting again soon, very soon," he promised before he turned and took a step into the distance, disappearing as he did.

"Wh-who was that?" Alliandre whispered from behind Ascot, and he turned to face her.

"That was Silvius, the former Keeper of Magic, the one who was in love with Umi but refused to accept Punishment. That is our enemy."

Her eyes widened in terror as he tried to console her, but her heart was screaming. She wasn't so sure this was better off than the orphanage, there weren't swords in an orphanage.

§§§

Clef shook his head and let the image fade. Silvius was right, her skill wasn't much. Lucky for her, she had Ascot who was trained as a summoner and a Mage, but…she would need more help than that to get her through this alive. _And why?_ his mind snarled angrily, _why get her out alive? Why does it matter anymore?_

Shut up! Clef ordered it, because his heart told him with or without Umi, Cephiro would always matter. Cephiro was his home and his life; it would always matter, whether the beauty faded and crumbled or whether joy was brought back into his heart. With that thought, he went back to his chair and sat down. Before he knew it, he was asleep and dreaming. Dreaming…his mind smiled, dreaming her dreams for him.

He laughed warmly as she exited the Sacred Village. It faded behind her, but everything looked the same. They were just the same though their eyes showed years of wear. She bounded to him, throwing her arms tightly around his neck as he showered her with kisses.

"I will never_ let you go again," he vowed, and she let her first tears of love fall in a hundred years._

"I pray you won't ever have to."

"Umi!" he bolted upright and shook his head. _Only a dream, _he thought angrily and brushed it off as best as he could. A slight laugh from the corner made him turn his eyes in that direction. It was dark out, when had it gotten dark?

"She'll haunt your dreams," the voice whispered, and he nodded.

"Yeah, she will."

"Because she can now."

"Yeah, she can."

"And you still love her?"

"Yeah, I do," he whispered, and Silvius snarled and began to pace. "What is wrong with loving her?" Clef demanded fiercely.

"Everything!" he shouted. "Will you be able to do it? When the time comes, will you be able to kill Selece, the Dragon she loves?"

"The Dragon that sent us into exile for four hundred years?" Clef countered, and Silvius stopped pacing, seemingly calmer.

"So you are angry about that? Despite your righteous talk you do hate him for that?"

"Of course," Clef lied fluently.

"But is it enough?" Silvius pondered to himself, staring out Clef's window toward the sea. "Is it enough to tame the Water Dragon?"

"Kill him Silvius, kill him," Clef coaxed him into believing, and he smiled sickly and agreed.

"Yes, it may just be enough."

§§§

"So you see, you can learn to control it," Affectus was explaining to her. "That way it doesn't haunt you. At first it may be overwhelming," he warned, "but you'll get the hang of it. That happens with everything around here."

Umi nodded, "Thank you."

"My pleasure," he smiled warmly, and his cloak shifted to a warm yellow color. She smiled at it slightly, and he looked down.

"Affectus, do you-do you mind if I ask you a question?" she inquired.

"Shoot."

"What is your Punishment?"

He sighed and looked down, his cloak deepened to a purplish black, "To never be able to experience my own emotions," he responded, and she gasped.

"But you-your cloak, the smile and-" she stumbled, and he managed a weak smile.

"They're not mine," he answered softly. "You see, whenever I want to express emotion I have to search the world for someone who is using that same emotion at the same time, and then portray it through myself. Watch," as he instructed his face became a whirl of different expressions. One second he was laughing and in the blink of an eye crying, frowning, then smiling, glaring, then cocking his head in curiosity. "See?"

Umi's eyes widened in shock, "So you never feel…when you smile you never…?"

He nodded, "No, never once have I felt the warmth of a smile or the joy of a new friend. I've never once been brought to my knees by the shattering of a heart or had my own eyes well with tears at the loss of a loved one."

"That's…" she stopped. She didn't want to say terrible, because she didn't want to hurt him, but the thought silenced her further. She couldn't hurt him. The thought made her sick to her stomach.

"It's okay," he smiled a smile that was not his own, "I understand my Punishment, and I walk the path. It is not a path for the weak at heart, and this system weeds out the weak ones. No one can control someone else's emotions without being strong of heart."

"But…do you _control_ them?"

"You mean, can I make someone fall in love?" he laughed slightly when she blushed and nodded. "Not exactly. I give people the power to decide their own emotions. Say, when someone decides that they've found a person that's right for them, whether or not they actually are, I put the jump into their stomach, the butterflies in their heart. I make their mouth dry when they walk in the room and their heart ache when they leave. I supply you with the things that make emotions, but I don't feel them."

"Oh," she whispered softly, "Arigato."

He smiled at her, "You know, your Punishment is to never _fall_ in love, there's nothing saying you can't _be_ in love."

She laughed lightly and nodded, "Good," she responded. "Because if that was the case I'd already be in the Floor."

He laughed back, and Umi couldn't detect the hollowness that should be there. How strange…to laugh but never feel the warmth it brought. To cry but never feel the ache. So many things she took for granted every day. _Well_,_ this place will break me of that habit, _she thought bitterly.__

§§§

"Alliandre, new Knight of Water, come forth," an ancient yet distinctly saddened voice bellowed, and she jumped back.

"What?" Ascot inquired.

"Didn't you hear that?"

He shook his head, "No…"

"There was a…never mind," she shrugged it off.

"Alliandre!" the voice was more distinct now, more urgent.

"All right already," she muttered and started to wade into the water. Ascot watched her, then nodded to himself. So Selece would accept her, for Cephiro. He settled onto the shore to wait.

§§§

"Now," Silvius whispered, and he and Clef transported themselves to the shore to await Alliandre's return.

"Clef, S-" Ascot stood, stopping when he saw them clearly, searching his teacher's eyes for answers. "You-"

Clef averted his eyes, and Ascot took a step back, "Ascot."

"Why?" Ascot demanded viciously. "Why?"

"Revenge Ascot, Selece stole her from me once, and Cephiro's done it again," Clef answered calmly.

"Then…you've come to kill Selece?"

"Hai," Clef nodded, "and you would be wise to stay out of it."

"I can't; I won't, for Umi and for Alliandre. I will not!" Ascot stood closest to the water as the now sobered Alliandre began to emerge.

"Summon him," Silvius ordered her as she stepped onto the shore.

"What? Guru?" she questioned.

"Don't do it Alliandre!" Ascot ordered.

"So you wish her to die as well?" Silvius asked bitingly.

"I-" Ascot stumbled, taking a glance back at the girl. She had stolen his heart in her short stay. They would both surely die without Selece just facing the Master Mage, never mind Silvius.

"Then be a good girl and summon him," Silvius instructed.

"Why do you want Selece?" she inquired.

"To kill him of course, ne Clef?" Silvius turned to the Mage, who nodded.

"H-hai."

Silvius' eyes narrowed, if Clef bailed out on him now…

"I hate him," he heard Clef mutter, and his confidence was restored.

"Do it," Ascot choked weakly. "Trust in Selece."

Alliandre nodded, clenching her fists, "Selece!" she called, and the great Rune God flew from the water to confront the Master Mage and the former Keeper of Magic.

§§§

"Now, I'll let some of the magic seep into you, so you can get your first taste of a premonition," Affectus told her, and she agreed weakly. He reached forward and touched her forehead gently, letting magic flow into her. She was almost knocked to the ground with the images that tore through her. It was almost like she was there it was so real…

A young girl stood in front of a Rune God, her Rune God.

"Selece," she whispered in the dream state, but if moved forward despite.

Ascot was standing next to the girl who was facing Silvius and…her heart stopped, "Clef?"

"This fight is futile," Selece boomed in a tired voice. "Clef, as Master Mage of Cephiro I would have thought more of you."

"Four hundred years of torture Selece, only to endure this!" Clef shouted back, raising his staff. Silvius leaned back and waited for the Master Mage to begin.

Umi was frozen stiff in the middle of the fight. She wanted to scream and stop him, but no words came and even if they did, they'd never be heard anyway.

Then, Clef began to cast, but at the last possible minute, he turned and directed his spell toward Silvius who was caught off-guard and was thrown to the ground by the attack. He struggled up, panting, and began to pour magic onto Clef who had used a considerable amount of energy on his own attack and hit the ground, unable to defend himself.

"No! Guru!" Ascot shouted, throwing himself in the way of the magic.

"Ascot," Clef mumbled weakly and tried to reach out to his student when Silvius let the magic cease, only so he could walk forward and examine them.

"Surely a former Keeper couldn't have bested the Master Mage and his prize student?" he tisked. "What a pity, well, I suppose you should have rested more, used less energy on trying to break the Sacred Village's barriers. Then, maybe your little surprise attack would have been successful," he taunted mockingly.

"Do something!" Umi screamed with all her heart to the girl who held her sword. "Clef!"

Silvius' fingers wrapped tightly around Clef's neck as he pulled him to his feet. The Mage was too tired to even struggle. He was ready to accept his fate, "Umi-chan, gomen nasai…"

The vision began to fade, but Umi fought hard, clinging to every little detail she could.

"Quies," she heard Affectus' voice but refused to return just yet. Silvius' grip was intensifying.

"Trust thine heart," Selece urged, and the girl nodded and moved her sword in front of her as she charged at Silvius' back, running him through and forcing him to slacken his grip on Clef.

"Never underestimate a Magic Knight," she warned, yanking the sword free as both Clef and Silvius crumpled to the ground. One was breathing, the other was not.

The vision blurred and then faded into black as Umi passed out and returned to her garden of sleeping people to plant the night's seeds.


	12. The Crumbling of the Will

I'M BAAAACK! Did you miss me!

I suppose there's no way I can apologize enough. My computer crashed and I was without it for about a month and a half and when it came back all my files had been deleted. That wasa few months ago, and I just hadn't gotten the drive to keep working until recently when I was reading through some of the reviews for Blue Angel Samui's story "Devotions" and angelwing (always a faithful reviewer) wrote that I had abandoned my readers. Of course, I was filled with guilt and decided I should get back to my work, and here is the product of that discovery. Please don't disown me!

Chapter Twelve: The Crumbling of the Will

_"Clef," her voice was a ghostly whisper; her figure a faint glow in the mist of the dream world where he lie dormant. _Her realm_, he had to remind himself bitingly._

_"My love," he murmured and wanted to run to her, to pull her into his arms and kiss her until it was all all right, but he knew he couldn't. She was not his; she was a creature of Cephiro now, there was nothing he could do to change that. They were all pawns on a chessboard, and even the queen was in danger of being captured for sacrifice. Even a pawn could take the king, as it had been proven._

_"I can't stay long," she looked behind her, almost frightened. "I just had to…thank you," her smile was strong despite her sad eyes and he was only endeared further. "I didn't think you could do it; Selece is everything to me. I didn't think you would…" then suddenly, her mood darkened drastically. "Take care of her Clef; take care of her as you took care of me."_

_He stopped breathing, frozen solid where he stood. What was she saying? She couldn't have… "Don't give up Umi-chan," he whispered softly. "There still might be a way, anything. There might be something. I know that; I'm not sure about anything, but I'm sure of that."_

_She laughed lightly, sending a tingling feeling through his body, "No, there isn't. But I want you to be happy, and she's strong, far stronger than I could have ever been. Please, watch over her, see that she grows to be the Water Knight that I couldn't be."_

_"You're wrong!" he shouted viciously, running toward her as she faded into the backdrop of the dream, as she slipped away from him. "Umi! You're wrong! Who are you? You're the Knight of Water! You're not this creature! Umi!"_

_"I love you Clef," the words were so soft they barely penetrated his ear, but they stung deeper than any wound._

He jumped awake and swiped the sweat off his brow with the corner of his silk sheet. The dream resonated strongly in his mind, and he rose angrily and threw open the doors to his balcony, gazing into the night. His mind screamed in anguish, his heart pounded loudly, his skin itched for the feel of her hair, her lips. He closed his eyes and breathed in a scent that no longer surrounded him. Anger rose in him, boiled until he was sure he would burst from it. He hated everything about the beautiful world that lay in front of him. He despised everything from the gentle carpet of green rolling beneath him to the black velvet cover that formed the sky. He hated the way the stars twinkled brightly, mocking his pain, the way the owls in the woods hooted merrily, calling to their mates. He couldn't stand the presence of any happiness; he wanted to surround himself in contempt and misery and stay there, a shell of what he had once been.

He had done his duty, like a good little bishop on the board. He had protected the world that he had once called home, even though the world had never protected him. He had done it for the innocents that shouldn't have to feel the pain that was now entrenched deep inside him, not expecting an impossible reward, but hoping against hope that something good could have come of his actions. But nothing had; nothing except more pain and a severe headache, nothing but a simple dream in which even his love had abandoned him.

The only sound that disturbed his brooding was a gentle knock that he wanted to push aside. He wanted to shut them all out, wanted to live alone in his suffering, but his body forced him to the door, ordered him to reach for the knob and turn it to pour light onto the inquisitive Alliandre.

"Guru," she bowed low. "You're awake."

He nodded stiffly, wanting more than anything to leap across the threshold of the door and strangle the small creature that seemed to epitomize everything that had been so ruthlessly stolen from him. He suppressed the urge and waited for her to speak, refusing to try and make conversation with the girl.

She squirmed uncomfortably under his penetrating gaze and turned her eyes to the floor, shuffling her feet anxiously, "I-uh-came to uh-thank you- for uh, not killing me, and uh-everything," she stumbled, and he sighed, unimpressed, trying not to compare her with Umi.

Umi, he smiled softly and considered what she would have done. She would have stood there, glaring at him angrily, daring him to explain why he had pulled such a ridiculous stunt, demanding to know if he was stupid or just insane. She would have made it seem that she was the victim and he the villain; she certainly _would not_ have _thanked_ him!

The anger burned in his throat in the form of tears that he swallowed down. There was no reason to cry in front of the girl; the only one who saw his weakness was Umi, and however inglorious the emotion, he would reserve it only for his love.

"Well, I guess that's everything then," she turned and sighed deeply. Then, in a surge of courage, flung around to meet his eyes, enraged, which made his eyes shoot open, a strange picture flashed in his mind, from her to Umi, then back, making him consider the girl more carefully.

She was utterly unlike his love, shorter, plainer, but…there was a similar determination in her eyes, especially when she looked at him like that.

"You could at least say thank you for saving your life!" she screamed at him, her anger getting the better of her, something Umi had always been apt to do.

He chuckled softly, no warmth touching the motion, only a bitter, stinging cold, "You say that under the presumption that I _wanted_ to live. Why would I thank you for stealing death from me?" he inquired bitingly, and she stepped back, afraid of the apathy in his eyes. These were not the eyes of the man that had been described to her. These were the tormented eyes of a man that had been driven mad by loss.

"I…"

"Go," he ordered. "I don't want to see you; you are a painful reminder of all that I have lost. Go, and try to stay out of my way," the last he said with a hidden warning that sent Alliandre sprinting in the other direction, not even bothering to watch him shut the door behind her.

When he was safe in his own solitude, he sat on the floor and meditated, trying to bring on the dreamlike state that would lead him to Umi, if only in spirit, but it was all to no avail. She had blocked her mind out to him, _so,_ he thought blandly, _her powers are growing. How soon until she has forgotten her love? How soon until she has drowned in those powers? _He pushed the voice aside and curled up in his bed, unable to find sleep, yet without the strength to go on. He was a battered, tired man. He had seen his own end, and he had seen the end of his love. He had been drained of hope, of life, and had therefore been drained of magic. Everything he had once been was shattered, and life as he knew it was completely gone, dead and buried, left to rot in the grave.

Fuu set her glasses down on the table she was working at and rubbed her eyes tiredly. She and Hikaru had been pouring over books every minute of the time they'd spent in the city Clef had directed them to and there had been nothing.

"Ugh!" Hikaru screamed, exasperated, slamming the cover to yet another musty old volume closed with a loud _bang_. "Where is it?"

Fuu shook her head, so her golden curls spread about her beautifully, "I don't know Hikaru-san," she answered softly. "I don't know."

Ferio sauntered over to Fuu and wrapped an arm around her shoulders gently, "We'll find it," he assured her, and Fuu looked out the huge double plated windows that covered one wall of the enormous library, for once, she took no comfort in the embrace of her lover.

"But will we be too late?" and as if to accent her words, a bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree and it fell against the ground with a sickening crunch.

"So it begins," Lantis' voice rung with ancient prophecy as if he was not even connected to his body. "The Master Mage has lost his Will to live."

"And with him goes the magic of Cephiro, in a land where everything is determined by Will, if he has none, then there is nothing left to hope for," Ferio mumbled near Fuu's neck and looked back to the books. "We have to hurry."

And if that was a jolt back into the present, all four dove back into their task, searching desperately for something, anything that would help them in their journey.

Umi felt rings around her eyes, still unable to get to the strange sleep schedule being up the entire night brought. True, she didn't need as much sleep as a normal human would need, but she still needed _some_ and getting _none_ wasn't enough.

"Quies," a faint voice called from behind her locked door, and she moved to open it, almost getting used to the name. When she opened the huge oak door she saw Calder, now Noctis- the Keeper of the Night. "Veneficus sent me. He said it was urgent; you must go to him."

Umi nodded and thanked him quietly, ready to accept her Punishment. She knew it had been dangerous to attempt to speak to Clef, but she didn't really care. It wasn't as if she was getting out of this situation anytime soon anyway, and maybe going to the Floor would hasten the birth of an apprentice.

Her heart didn't even flutter in apprehension when she entered the throne room of the Keeper of Magic. She didn't fear anything now, not even the dreaded Floor. What could be worse than what she'd suffered? Four hundred years in darkness, eighteen years of an unknown longing, suffering at the hands of a long-despised enemy only to be torn away from her one true love? What was there to fear? There was nothing that mattered without Clef in her life, and she wasn't about to pretend that there was.

"You sent?" she inquired, gazing right into Veneficus' rainbow colored eyes, something she would have been unable to do on any other occasion.

"I did," he answered calmly. "I felt a disturbance in the energies of the Sacred Village."

"Oh?" she replied casually, because even though she didn't fear the Floor she wasn't about to go spilling out everything she'd done in her short time as Keeper of Dreams. What would be the point? And she was too tired to deal with a lecture, best to keep quiet and wait for him to stop beating around the bush.

"It seems that someone was trying to find a way to breach our magic, wonder who that could be?" he raised his eyebrows at her, but she just watched him, unaffected.

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"Don't play dumb," he snapped. "I feel bad for you, really, I do, but my pity will only take you so far. Tell me what he's trying to do!" Veneficus' face twisted in rage at her audacity. She'd been Keeper for a few weeks, and she thought she knew something about playing the game! She knew nothing! She was a puppy and he was a mastiff, and he would eat her alive if he had to. He did have the power after all.

"First of all, your _pity_ is not what I want, nor need. I don't _care_ about Punishments, so throw me your best. But if you must know what Clef is doing why don't you ask him yourself? If you're so all mighty you should be able to tell what he's doing with his magic anyway, you are the Keeper of Magic, or were, last time I checked! I don't know; I've blocked him from my mind so I can continue doing what I was ordered to do, and if you have a problem with that…" she trailed off, because she knew there was nothing she could threaten him with. She wanted to break down and cry, but she couldn't. How could anyone live like this? How could she force herself to keep on after this? There was no way she could make herself push forward. But she couldn't just will her young body to die either. It wasn't fair! But then, when had the world ever been fair to her?

Veneficus pulled back, startled at the contempt in her voice. But it wasn't a contempt for him per say, it was a contempt for the entire _concept_ of Keepers. How could she hate what she was? It just didn't make sense, "Well my dear," he shook his head disbelievingly. "I guess I can't Punish you, you didn't break any rules in blocking your lover from your mind, and you didn't fall in love while you were here, so there's nothing more I can say to you. "

"Have they found a replacement yet?" she asked tiredly, and he shook his head.

"One has not been born."

"But what if I was to do something right now and I went to Floor for it?" she inquired. This whole system was flawed! Cephiro didn't need anyone to pray for it anymore, so why did it need someone to guard its every move?

"Then various Keepers would take on various tasks until a replacement was to be found, much like they did when you first arrived here. I presume you have full control of your powers now?"

She nodded, "Veneficus, why do any of the Keepers do it? I mean, why would you do this when the things you're meant to guard are kept from you? Look at Bestia, the one who creates and protects animals. When I brought my mare into this Village, he gazed upon her with such loving eyes, like a father looking at his newborn child. There was such a deep love there, I could barely breathe just watching, and when she approached him, he jumped back in fear and was forced to move inside because he's not allowed to touch animals. How could you do this? And you? You guard and possess all the magic in the world, and you're not allowed to so much as light a candle with it? Don't your hands itch to try some of the things you've seen?"

"Every minute of every day," he answered and sighed heavily, standing and descending the throne to take her shoulders under his hands, which itched even more. She was a Magic Knight, the other half of his Punishment. She was the one he could never have, but he would control himself. He knew what the Floor was like; he'd seen it before when he'd tried to hide a little girl that was just coming into her powers from the prowess of her evil uncle. Instead of simply guiding her magic, as he was allowed to do, he brought it into himself and used it to protect her, easier, quicker, but not allowed, and the Council had sent him to the floor for two hundred years. Those had been the early days. He shuddered, no; he would not go back there again for all the world. "Quies, to find the answer to that question all you have to do is take a good look at everything good in Cephiro and imagine it with no guidance. This world was created based on Will, but the people here are still people, and not all Wills are good. You see, if we let everything go unmanaged here, then the people who could corrupt it with their very thoughts, _would_. That's why the Magic Knights, that's why the Keepers."

"Yes, but why the Punishments?" she was almost pleading, as if making him understand her side would help her cause. She realized she wasn't opening up to his side, but he'd been bred and raised for this job; she hadn't. Maybe that was the problem, maybe she'd had more taste of freedom than any of the Keepers could ever dream of, and she knew what they were missing when they didn't. Most of these people had been taken from their homes at a very young age, some were a little older, but they'd been conditioned to accept their tasks while she had been simply thrown into her position.

"Distractions," he answered simply. "They're just distractions, if Bestia were allowed to touch his beasts he wouldn't be able to take his hands off them long enough to protect them. If I were allowed to use magic I would spend more time trying to dabble with it for self gain than trying to protect it. If you were allowed to love you would be pulled into the dream of the romance until it was all that you were, unable to project anything but love into people's eyes, and sometimes people need the truth, and their subconscious is the only way to give it to them. Do you see? We Keepers, we are immortal by nature, but we were people, we still _are_ people, and we'd be selfish just as quickly as any other person given the chance. You saw Blade and Alianore; don't you think we all think of doing that? But we have homes here; we have powers and things to protect. Most of us can get past the itch and be happy."

"But there's always a part of you missing."

He shrugged and dropped his hold on her shoulders, "It keeps us alert. Go now, leave me, and try and digest some of what I've told you. I need to meditate and try to keep the Master Mage from breaking through our barriers, because I'm not sure what would happen if he did."

She nodded, spun on her heel and stormed out; her heart heavy with guilt. She knew she was being selfish, but…damn it, she'd suffered enough!

"Oh my God," Fuu whispered, trying to refocus her eyes long enough to reread the piece of parchment she'd been reading. They'd been at this for almost two days straight and so far there'd been nothing, and the conditions in Cephiro were getting drastically worse. They'd been through almost every book on magic in the entire library and had moved onto the ancient histories, and here, in the most unlikely of places, she found their answer.

Hikaru peered over Fuu's shoulder to read the heading of the parchment, "The Last Wish of Emeraude?"

Fuu nodded, "She must have known, about the Keepers. She wanted to abolish it," she whispered and read the paper out loud for the benefit of the others, "_My last wish before I die would be to see the Keepers and the Magic Knight freed of their Punishments. But, I know this is a futile wish, one that could never be made without the Will of the people behind it. One person is not enough. There is only one way for the Keepers and the Knights to be freed, and that would take the hearts of many, the magic of many, the strength of many, and it would be a battle against the world. If there were a way that I could work this magic in my last breath I would. I can only hope that in the future there will be a way to save them. I feel a darkness; there will be a time when a savior will be desperately needed."_

"What does that mean?" Hikaru shook her head in confusion. "What are we supposed to do? I'll do it; I just need to know what to do first!"

"The hearts of many, the magic of many," Fuu whispered. "A battle against the world," she nodded to herself. "We're going to have to fight the Will of the Cephiro."


	13. The Madness

§Hey All! Well, I'm gonna start this Author's note with a couple plugs. So…I've recently noticed that Rayearth is not the pumped up section it used to be, but there are still some very good authors running around in this place. . And these are only a few, I've unfortunately not had the time to read a lot of the stories I've wanted, but I figured I'd throw a couple plugs in there for some extra reading in case I forget to update again…heh…Anyway, read _Worth _by RaevanDawn if you haven't, and also _Rayearth and the Legend Continues _by _Laminarose_, both are new authors, and you all know how I feel about how new authors never get enough appreciation and love ahem…coughreviewscough…so I figured I'd throw the couple out to you! Anyhoo…here is the next chapter, and don't forget, new authors aren't the only ones who need love! Show some people!§

Chapter Thirteen: The Madness

Mokona puued happily, bouncing along in front of the two as Alliandre tore yet another bramble out of her blond hair, "Are we almost there?" she asked without a hint of whining in her voice.

"Why? Are you tired?" Ascot questioned, "If you are, we could stop for the night."

"No, no," Alliandre insisted, feeling the desperation of the situation even if she wasn't sure what was causing it. "I just was curious."

"Oh," Ascot looked around him as if taking survey of where they were. "I suppose…just nearly," he answered, and she smiled and took off running after the creature Mokona.

"Well then I'll race you!" she challenged, and Ascot groaned and chased after her despite his aching feet.

They'd retrieved the escudo easily enough; Alliandre said she'd been forced to face a foster mother she'd had for a few months before she was pushed back into another orphanage. That was after her temporary foster mother realized she had breast cancer and had problems big enough of her own that she didn't wish to expose to Alliandre.

_Funny,_ Ascot thought to himself, _she's so unlike Umi, almost as if she doesn't belong to the Water._ _She's more at home in the woods than by the sea. I…_he shifted uneasily when the sand hit his feet, and he saw Alliandre staring out at the sea, unaffected by its glittering beauty.

He couldn't help but be drawn by _her_ beauty, her quiet grace. She reminded him more of Fuu than Umi, quiet, reserved, gentle, but fierier, and darker. He supposed after living a life like hers he would be dark too. Yet, she smiled easily, laughed loudly and cracked occasional jokes. He didn't mind her company at all, she wasn't annoying or demanding, she had Hikaru's spirit and agility, Fuu's intelligence and Umi's beauty. There was nothing he could find that was flawed in her, but he assumed he was slightly biased. _I really like her, she's like no one I've ever met before;_ he stopped and let himself ponder that thought while he took a spot on the shore and waited for the new Magic Knight of Water to emerge.

* * *

_"Umi, you have to listen to me, you have to," Clef pleaded as Umi backed away, struggling to keep him out of her work. _How did he find me here? _She asked of herself as she looked at the stars around her frantically._

_Picking one, she dove into it and realized, to her horror, that she had jumped into Clef's own dreams._

_"Perfect," he whispered and followed her in, both caught up in his mind. He'd stolen her world for a few minutes, and he _was_ going to make her listen._

_"Clef, let me go," she begged, eyes almost rolling in terror._

_"No," he grabbed her wrists and pulled her close to his chest until she stopped struggling, unable to tear herself away._

_"Do you want me to go to the Floor?" she demanded, tears in her throat but not in her eyes, and the reminder almost sent him reeling in anguish._

_"This is for Veneficus' benefit!" he shouted at her, and she pulled back from him, letting him speak. He nodded softly, and she crossed her arms._

_"Quickly please."_

_He bit his lip and tried not to feel offended at her tone. He probably would have run and hid in his darkness if it hadn't been for the obvious torture in her eyes. What lie beyond those blue depths reminded him that she was still his Umi, and she still felt the same way for him as he felt for her. Nothing had changed; she was just trying to protect them both. His hands clenched, but he forced himself to go on despite, "Hikaru and Fuu are going to Foret de la Neige. They're going to find what holds the Keepers to their Punishments. They're going to find it, and we're going to fight it."_

_"What?" she whispered softly, and he smiled and took a step forward._

_"We're going to win Umi."_

_She fell to her knees, and he imagined a carpet of downy gentian, a deep blue flower of velvet smoothness for her to fall onto. She laughed lightly and shook her head at him, wanting only to feel his skin against hers._

_As if noticing her sudden need, he kneeled beside her and stroked her cheek with his thumb lovingly, brushing tears that weren't there, "Soon my love," he promised, and she nodded weakly and kissed the finger that touched her cheek, closing her eyes as he released her back to her duties.

* * *

_

Fuu, Hikaru, Ferio and Lantis galloped back to the Palace as fast as their horses would take them. When they were within a day, Fuu and Hikaru reined their horses in, staring at the Palace longingly, but knowing they had other things to do. The road for them was almost over, but the end of the path was the most important, and getting careless wouldn't save anyone, "Go on ahead, we need to find Blade and Alianore," Fuu told them, and Ferio and Lantis looked distressed but agreed. It only made sense; they were planning on fighting the thing that made Keepers, Keepers; it was only appropriate that they ask a couple former ones before they acted on their plan.

"Very well," Lantis bowed his head in submission, and Ferio gave Fuu one last kiss before the two turned and headed back toward the Palace to tell the Guru and the rest what they had learned.

Fuu and Hikaru watched them fade into the distance before heading back to their own search, "They wouldn't go into the Forest," Fuu said practically, and Hikaru nodded.

"No, I don't suppose they would, but I don't think they'd go far from the Palace."

"Then we should start with that village, right near here," Fuu turned her horse in that direction, and she and Hikaru headed toward it.

When the two entered the village, they were immediately received and ushered into a nearby tavern, where they were seated and instructed to wait by a young boy who could only be ten years old with a small, round face covered in freckles and sporting red hair.

"We're really in a hurry," Fuu began politely, but he shook his head and insisted they stay.

"No, the lady and the man wanted to see you," he told them, and Hikaru and Fuu exchanged glances and nodded. So they were here.

"All right, we'll stay," Hikaru told him gently, and he grinned, thanked them, and sprinted off in the other direction.

The boy hadn't been gone long when Alianore and Blade strode into the room, Blade the symbol of power and deadly grace, Alianore slightly disheveled and disoriented, almost as if she was unsure of her own skin.

"What…?" Hikaru began, but Blade shook his head.

"We should take this to a less public place," he announced more to the eager tavern goers nearby than to the Knights. They quickly agreed and stood.

* * *

_"Thou shalt not don me," a powerful and slightly aggravated voice boomed from within a field of black._

_"What?" Alliandre asked quietly. From the little she'd gathered from Fuu and Hikaru before she left, and from the stories __Ascot__ had told her, this was not the greeting she was supposed to receive._

_"Thine heart is not the heart of the water," the voice in the shadows informed her, and she pointed to herself._

_"I…I know," she sighed sadly. "I don't hate the water, but I don't _love_ it either. I don't know why I would be called here though…I mean…does this sort of mishap happen often?"_

_Her genuine questions and her courage to speak to him made him chuckle softly, which clearly caught her off-guard, because she squeaked and jumped backward, "No," he admitted, almost gently, if you could call that huge, ancient voice gently. "There is another destiny for thou. There is a war coming, and thou shall be the deciding factor. Go back to the Guru and the two Magic Knights, offer them thy sword and thy services and thou shalt be heavily rewarded in due course."_

_Alliandre__ shook her head unbelievingly as the doors to the watery temple flung open; and she was pushed back out onto the shore. _

"Did you revive him?" Ascot demanded anxiously, "Your armor didn't evolve."

Alliandre shook her head, and he looked at her hopelessly, "What?"

"He said…he said I didn't have the heart to don him, because it's not water…or something. I'm not really sure; he just said I should go back to Clef and offer my sword and my services," she puzzled, and his heart fell out of his chest. _Does this mean that Clef will send her home? Does this mean that she'll leave? There is no danger without Silvius…I mean…_For some reason that thought scared him more than any threat that might yet come.

* * *

"We should go," she said softly, and he nodded, resigned, and they mounted and headed back to the Palace. 

"What did you learn?" Alianore asked them anxiously as soon as they were in the door of the small house where Blade and Alianore seemed to have taken up residence.

"We found this," Fuu offered them a copy of the scroll they'd found, written in her own spiraling hand.

Hikaru fidgeted nervously while Alianore read it, allowing Blade to read over her shoulder. When they were finished, they both looked up with frightened yet relieved expressions on their faces.

"What do you think?" Hikaru asked tentatively, and Alianore sighed heavily and sat down on the edge of a nearby couch, perched like a hesitant, terrified bird, ready to take flight at any moment. It was as if something was chasing her, and she only had enough time to stop and get a breath before she was forced to plunge into flight once more.

"I think that we're going to need a lot of Will, and a lot of cooperation, but I think it can be done."

"In fact," Blade echoed, sitting beside his lover and taking her hand gently in his own, "I think it _has_ to be done."

* * *

Umi could barely concentrate on her work as she floated through the dream world, smiling slightly. They hadn't forgotten her; they were going to save her. And, even better, they were going to save all the Keepers! She could barely prevent the smile from overwhelming her, but she managed and kept her mind on her duty. 

_It's not any different,_ the thought crossed her mind, _my being in love now versus my falling in love while I'm working. It's still a distraction, but I get the work done. Anyone that was devoted to Cephiro would be, and those who live here _have_ to be. _All the more reason for the system of Punishments for the Keepers to be ended, if the Keepers themselves were vital to Cephiro, at least they should be allowed to live in relative freedom.

At the end of her long night, she fed herself a small bone and granted herself sweet dreams for the couple hours she would be permitted to sleep, fell into her silk sheets and drifted into a beautiful dream world where she was with her lover and nothing had changed. She wasn't a Keeper _or_ a Magic Knight, and he wasn't a Master Mage. They were just themselves, two people in love.

_He grinned as he threw a snowball at her head, and she dodged it easily. _

_"You'll have to do better than that!" she challenged and ducked behind a nearby tree as another snowball came whizzing at her head. She poked her head out from behind the tree just long enough to stick her tongue out at him before another snowball came her way. _

_Grinning mischievously, she packed a snowball into her mittened fingers and was about finished when something cold and wet fell onto her head and dripped down her back. She looked up in mock horror, and Clef stood in front of her, smiling widely. _

_"Oh, you're _so_ dead," she whispered and tossed her snowball right into his face, which sent him sputtering._

_He grabbed her wrist and knocked her into a nearby snow bank, and she tumbled into the soft, wet powder, laughing and screaming her pleasure. Surprisingly, he curled up next to her and placed a soft kiss on her neck that had her tingling in pleasure and warmed her cold blood, "Lovely," he whispered near her ear, and she turned and looked into his beautiful blue eyes. "Do you want to call it a day?"_

_She grinned at him and nodded, "Sure, I could use a warm fire and a nice, cozy bed."_

_He laughed and stood, brushing himself off as he did and then offered her a hand. She took it delicately, and he scooped her up into his arms, spinning her around quickly, so her long blue hair whipped behind her, ending with her cradled in his arms, her head tucked safely in the nape of his neck, "I think that can be arranged," he mumbled into her hair, and she curled up closer to him as he carried her inside.

* * *

_

"Has to?" Fuu looked at him curiously then looked back to Alianore who seemed on the edge of insanity.

Blade sighed heavily and stood to pace the room, a habit she smiled at – Ferio had the same one. He ran a hand through his black hair and then faced them, his eyes unreadable because of their night coloring, "I can't really give it an explanation, I suppose that there's an additional Punishment dished out to Keepers who choose Banishment. It's never really been explained, well, I don't suppose it could be. There's…a madness…"

"A madness?" Hikaru's eyes darted quickly to Alianore who was shaking on the edge of the couch, tears racing down her cheeks. Blade looked at her and nodded behind her back though Hikaru didn't think she'd notice if he'd done it right in front of her.

"It…affects Keepers in different ways, after they've chosen Banishment. The longer the Keeper was in the Village the quicker it sets in. I…I wasn't there as long as Alianore. Or, well, I was, but she donned her cloak long before I did. We were childhood sweethearts, but they took her almost three hundred years before they took me. It's…" he shook his head and sighed again. "Hard to explain to someone who hasn't been there. The power is – intoxicating, for different reasons. The power itself is breathtaking. You have the ability to change the world as people know it, for better or for worse. That's an astounding feeling, and knowing that you're the only one who can keep things running smoothly is an emotion that nothing else can replicate. Yet, not everything we Keepers see is beautiful, and knowing that you have the power to change it but sometimes can't…it's haunting. That's what you remember when you leave the Sacred Village. That's what Alianore remembers – how many people she sent to the Floor, how many people she couldn't save through dream messages. Soon it will set in on me too, and then we'll perish or turn, as Silvius did. Silvius, he wasn't an evil Keeper, he was just curious, much like Veneficus. Veneficus was taught by Silvius; they are, were, a lot alike. It wasn't him that attacked you; it was the madness, that's why you could never reason with him," while Blade spoke, Alianore's eyes glossed over, fading in and out of reality, and Hikaru's heart went out to the girl who had been fragile _before_ she'd been forced to relive every terrible deed she'd ever voluntarily or _involuntarily _committed.

"That's awful," Fuu shook her head, glancing once more at Alianore, but the sight scared her. "Why would anyone leave?"

"For love," Blade answered quietly, "because there are things that the Sacred Village can't offer."

"Oh gods," Fuu whispered softly, and Hikaru looked at her, alarmed. "Are you saying, if we don't fight this- this…madness, that Umi will come out of there like…this?"

Blade nodded slowly, and Hikaru's jaw dropped.

* * *

Ascot made no move to walk any faster than he had to, certainly not as fast as Alliandre was pushing them. 

"C'mon Ascot!" she urged, "We've got to hurry; Selece said there was something coming."

Ascot smiled bitterly. _I can't believe Selece would betray Cephiro for the memory of Umi…_That thought had been plaguing him. That _had_ to be the reason Selece wouldn't let her revive him. There was no other plausible explanation. Of course Alliandre had a water heart; she wouldn't be here if she didn't. She was the next candidate for becoming the Magic Knight of Water, and the fact that Selece would see her put back into the terrible place she had come from, infuriated him for some reason. And now he was trying to trick her into getting sent back to the Palace, and Clef was just going to sigh and send her home! _Clef_ certainly wasn't going to argue with Selece's decision not to allow another Water Knight to take Umi's place.

He slowed a little more, "Alliandre, don't you realize that when you go back Clef is just going to send you home?" he ventured to ask, and she spun and looked at him with eyes so openly afraid he could barely stand to look at them.

"What?" she demanded, and he walked toward her, taking her shoulders and delighting in her actions when her hands rose to meet his.

"Selece loved Umi with all his heart, and now he's not letting you don him because of that love. When you go back, Clef will have to send you home and try someone else. When a Magic Knight fails to don her Rune God, she's sent home with no memory of the event," he explained gently, and her bottom lip began to quiver.

"No memory?" she shook her head, "But-but this is the best experience of my life! I don't want to forget it!"

He was taken aback by the fierceness in her voice. Coming here was the best experience of her life? "Alliandre, I…"

But she didn't let him continue, "I've met so many great people and friends. Ascot, I've never had friends like you, and I…" she blushed and turned her eyes downward. "The last few days have been…perfect. I don't want to forget them, and you."

He pulled her chin up with three fingers and looked into her hazel eyes gently, "Then don't go back, and I won't."

She gasped and pulled away, afraid by his words, almost as afraid as he was for speaking them. His whole life was at the Palace, had he just offered to run away from that? For a girl he barely knew? It was ludicrous, yet…he didn't want to take it back.

"Ascot, we can't," she choked. "I don't know how, I just know that we can't. We have to go back. I'm sorry, I want…" a tear slipped down her cheek, and he stepped forward boldly and wiped it away.

She threw herself into his arms and sobbed into his chest, "I'm so scared," she whispered, and he clutched her tighter. "I think that something bad is going to happen, and I don't want to lose you, but I need to go back. I need to do this, and I don't know why. I don't understand anything anymore, I'm so lost."

He stroked her hair gently and kissed the top of her head, "It's okay, I'll be with you. Maybe- maybe we can convince Clef to let you stay."

She laughed groggily through her tears, "Yeah, it'll be like getting a green card."

"A what?" he asked, and she shook her head against his chest.

"Never mind."

He marveled at how open she was, almost as open as Hikaru, _she isn't a water element at all,_ he thought to himself, and for the first time since they'd left the Water Temple, began to think that maybe Selece _was_ telling the truth.

§Oh…I had a question too, does anyone know if songics were banned from I really really wanted to write another one, sorta like Rubies and Gold…I actually started it, but if they were banned I don't wanna get in trouble and not be able to finish or something, so if someone could let me know I'd be greatly obliged. I got so behind in reading the notices that it would probably take me another two years just to get caught up. Hahaha, anyway, I'll try not to be long in the next chapter if you're not long in reviewing!§


	14. Contacting the Will

Chapter Fourteen: Contacting the Will

Veneficus hurtled through her door, scaring her awake, "If I could, I'd send you to the Floor for this so that damn Mage couldn't touch you even if he wanted to!"

Umi immediately sprung to life and forced her exhausted brain to try and make some sense of what the Keeper of Magic was babbling about, his eyes flashing from one shade of red to the next, "What?" she whispered, and magic jumped to his fingers; magic he was sorely tempted to use.

"The Magic Knights of Cephiro are going to challenge the Will of Cephiro, the foundation of the Keepers, all in the name of undying love. For you! Have you any idea what that means?" he roared, throwing his hands into the air, sparks falling uselessly around them.

Umi closed her eyes and chose her words carefully, having Veneficus kill her would be no good for either of them, "Veneficus, you've never been in love, at least not that you remember, so how can you say love is wrong? How can you judge an emotion you've never felt? What if I said anger was wrong for the Keeper of Magic, anger makes you make irrational decisions, does it not? What then, would that mean you should be Punished?"

Veneficus opened his mouth but no words came out; he knew she was right, "I just don't want it to be like last time."

"Last time?" her eyes narrowed, and he nodded and took a seat by her bed as she lowered herself onto the deep blue comforter.

"A long time ago there was a Magic Swordsman who decided to fight the Will for Quies, Alianore then…"

* * *

Alliandre waited impatiently at Clef's door. The other two Magic Knights had returned a few hours ago, and she'd been stuck outside – again. _Just face it, _her mind growled at her, _you're trying to replace their best friend and his lover, and you don't even have the Rune God to back you up. _She tensed, subconsciously agreeing with herself, and Ascot squeezed her hand gently, sending her a thin smile. He was clearly worried about what the outcome of the situation would be. There was something mysterious going on in that room, and Alliandre was pretty sure it had something to do with her. Still, Selece's words hung in her mind – _offer them thy sword and thy services._

She nodded at the thought and jumped back when the large white doors swung open, and the Master Mage of Cephiro walked out, "Alliandre, Ascot, sorry to keep you waiting, but Fuu and Hikaru's information was pertinent to your fate."

Alliandre tried not to gulp as she and Ascot followed the Mage inside. Fuu and Hikaru offered weak smiles, but the strain and emotional turmoil was as clear on their faces. She felt herself drawn to their pain, wanting to heal it. She'd always been that way, wanting to heal mental hurts. She supposed it came from being raised in an orphanage, surrounded by cases of abuse and abandonment. A real good way to forget your own pain was to lose yourself in someone else's, and there'd been plenty of that around her.

Still, she felt like she didn't need to hide from them, like she'd hidden from so many of her childhood friends. These two had _seen_ pain, and they weren't afraid of it; they were willing to fight back. She gave them a comforting smile, and they seemed to loosen minutely, even if the Master Mage was hardly fazed. The anguish in his eyes went beyond her; it was so deep she could hardly believe he was still standing.

"Selece has contacted me, and conventionally, I should send you home with no memory, but," the Guru's eyes flashed to his student who was jumping forward in her defense, "this is not a conventional situation." He summoned chairs for them, and they all sat tentatively, "We have decided to face the Will of Cephiro, not only on Umi's behalf, but on the behalf of all the Keepers. For that, we are going to need all the strongest Wills in Cephiro, _especially_ the Magic Knights."

Alliandre started to protest, to explain that she wasn't a Knight, that Selece had rejected her, but Clef stopped her.

"Selece said you weren't a _Water_ Knight, he didn't say you weren't a _Magic_ Knight."

Fuu and Hikaru jumped back at that, "But, how?" Fuu gasped.

"Sh-She can't be here to – to replace – one of…us, can she?" Hikaru squeaked anxiously, and Clef shook his head, so the two could calm some.

"Go into the Forest of Silence and pledge your sword to it; you will find your Rune God there," Clef instructed. "Be swift."

Alliandre nodded stiffly, bowed, and headed off, Ascot on her heels.

"There were four?" Fuu whispered, and Clef looked back to them and shook his head.

"There _are_ four, the three Rune Gods have created another for this one reason," he answered and looked to the ceiling as if for answers. _I hope we're doing the right thing.

* * *

_

"Just hold on," Blade begged, stroking Alianore's long blond hair protectively, his dark eyes framed with worry. "They're on their way; they're going to save us, love."

She whimpered in her hallucinations, the delusions were becoming too much for her to handle; he knew she was going to die if they didn't hurry. _Come on Knights, _he begged in his mind. _It's hitting her fast and hard, because it's hit her before. Please…Hurry…

* * *

_

"The father of the one you call Lantis, met her when they were both young, and she bore him two sons before she was summoned to the Sacred Village. In our terms she was too old to train, so we had to give her some of her years back, and she took the form you see her in now. The Magic Swordsman wanted to face the Will for her, but he was too weak because he fought alone, and the Will crippled his spirit during the battle, so he left his two sons by themselves in Cephiro. In retribution for her tears shed outside of duty, the Will came to the Keeper of Magic and instilled in him the power to create the Floor and added new Punishments to all the Keepers. Quies spent her first hundred years in the Floor; she was its first victim, and when she rose, she had only faint memories of her past love and her two children. Slowly, she began to forget everything except for the fact that her two boys existed somewhere. Noctis stole her heart," Veneficus explained in a solemn tone.

Umi's eyes widened in amazement, so _that_ was why Lantis knew of Quies; she was his mother…

* * *

_"Alianore, you've forgotten me," the voice was so low it was almost inaudible, but it made her heart leap into her throat. _

_"No," she protested as the night clad figure emerged in the swirls of mist._

_"You have," he countered and strode forward, his huge frame dominating her small one, his dark contrasting against her light. She had always loved dark men. "You've forgotten me and moved on, so now you cannot even warn them of what they face. I have died in vain."_

_Alianore closed her eyes when his large hand moved to cup her face, and she remembered, "I loved you, but I love Blade too," she tried to get him to see, but she knew that he never could. There was no way he could ever accept that she had a new lover when he had died to try to get her back._

_He smiled lightly then, something very rare and cherished in her heart, "You think I don't understand."_

_She nodded, and he shook his head at her._

_"I love you Alianore, I always have, and I always will. I only envy the man who stole your heart away from my memory; I don't mourn for you. I wish you to be happy, because you have lived for years in solitude, and your spirit was never one to be void of love. What angers me is that you have forgotten to warn the Master Mage what he will face," he looked behind him, and Alianore searched the mist for something that would give her any clue to her problem. "I cannot stay."_

_"Please, what do I do?" Alianore begged, tears springing to her eyes, tears that she no longer had to hold back. He looked back at her and smiled warmly; a smile that lit his eyes. _

_"Tell him, that's all, wake long enough and fight this madness to tell him."_

_She nodded firmly as he faded, and fought her way through the dark memories that plagued her, clawing her way to the surface._

"Blade," she threw her eyes open, and he sighed heavily and thanked whatever had pulled her back. "I don't have much time before it comes back," her eyes swung the room in a paranoia that couldn't be feigned. "You have to warn Clef; you have to go to the Palace and warn him."

"I won't leave you," he started stubbornly, but she put a hand to his lips and silenced him.

"This isn't just about you and I anymore, but you _will_ lose me if you don't warn the Master Mage what he will face. There will be tests, for all of them, but for him most of all. You have to tell him that no matter what happens, no matter what he faces in the Will, he _must_ remember that Umi is still captive, and she is still waiting for him to save her. He must not be fooled by anything; he has to keep his goal, and his love, in mind. Tell him- tell him it will be harder than anything he's ever faced, and keeping his love in mind might sound easy, but it won't be. It'll be anything but. Tell him, he has to do this, or the Keepers will be Punished instead of saved. Tell him that…" she stopped, there were no more words, she had done all that she could.

"I love you," Blade whispered softly as the madness swallowed her again. He turned from her, tears in his eyes, grabbed a black cloak, and headed to find the Master Mage of Cephiro.

* * *

Alliandre laid her sword at the base of the first tree in the Forest of Silence, refusing to waste time, "I pledge my sword to the Forest and to the Earth and to the Rune God that waits for me. I pledge my services to the spirits of Nature and Healing. I pledge my life to Cephiro," she had no idea where the words came from, but they sounded vaguely magical when she spoke them.

_"Ah," _a light voice, much younger than that of the Dragon she'd encountered laughed in her mind, and she searched for it. _"You've come, I didn't think you'd _ever_ come."_

"Ascot do you hear that?" Alliandre asked, and he shook his head. "I think it's my Rune God, but it's not speaking in the medieval language."

_"Well, I wouldn't, now would I?" _the voice she now realized was in her head jested, _"Since I've just been created."_

"Created?" she inquired; and the voice laughed again.

_"Come inside, and we'll be properly introduced."_

Alliandre looked hesitantly at Ascot, told him with her eyes to stay there, and entered the forest, following a strange beam of light.

When she was sure she was in the center of the forest, the beam disappeared, and she was faced with a large tangle of Japanese honeysuckle and multi-flora rose, an impenetrable barrier, but in the center, was a large 'K' created of flowers. She touched the K, being careful of the thorns, and the wall opened, granting her access to a large room, the ceiling made of vines, the pillars made of large trees. She gasped; she had never seen anything so beautiful, and in the center, stood a large unicorn, pure white with an ivory horn. There was a necklace of roses around its thick neck and a small morning glory vine creeping up its horn, _"Hello, Earth Knight, my name is __Kirin__."

* * *

_

"She said you'd say that," Blade laughed roughly, his voice scratchy from a hard pace and lack of sleep. He hadn't realized mortals needed to sleep so much; they spent most of their short lives dreaming! It was so impractical. He sighed heavily at the thought and tried to focus his attention back on the Master Mage who was proclaiming it was virtually impossible to forget that he loved Umi and he needed to save her. "She just said it would be hard for you to remember, but that you had to. She said…if you don't, it will mean more Punishments for the Keepers."

"What do you mean by that?" Clef inquired curiously, wondering at the sudden strain in Blade's dark eyes.

"I believe I can explain that, Guru," Lantis bowed to them both, and Blade's eyes widened.

"I can't believe I didn't see it before," he mumbled, and Lantis gave him a half-smile.

"You had other things on your mind before."

"What are you talking about?" Clef snapped, and Lantis began to explain the mysterious story of his heritage.

"Well, now isn't that interesting," but Clef didn't doubt it, because when he looked into Lantis' eyes he saw Alianore's staring back out at him.

"Father lived for two years, trying to struggle with the memories, but what he lost and what the Will had made him see killed him," at one time in Lantis' life he would have been bitter, but since meeting Hikaru, he'd learned that those on whom the blame fell were generally innocent.

"And what did he see?" Clef leaned forward, but Lantis shook his head.

"If Zagato…" he shrugged, "I can't tell you, he never divulged in me, and I was too young to remember it myself."

"It will be horrible," Blade told him frankly. "I hate to tell you this, but Cephiro is not as merciful as we would wish it to be. The Will is a living thing, but it doesn't have emotions like humans do. It will accomplish whatever _it_ sees best for Cephiro; unless you prove to it, it should do otherwise."

Clef chewed the inside of her cheeks and nodded, contemplating, "Then we shall simply have to beat it."

Blade grinned and nodded emphatically, glad to see that the Mage wasn't giving up in light of what he'd learned, but then, he didn't plan to either, "I will help you with this Guru. Alianore is unfortunately being tested in her own way, but I will be here, to take a test of my own."

Clef gripped the shoulder of the former Keeper of the Night in a grim alliance. They both knew what it felt like to lose a loved one to the Punishments of the Keepers, and all they had to do was look at one another to see their own eyes reflected in the other's. They would be dangerous enemies to the Will of Cephiro.

* * *

"So you are my Rune God," Alliandre smiled in appreciation of the beautiful creature, which nodded and came forward, nuzzling her hand gently. She grinned and pet the nose of the Unicorn, breathing in a light floral smell that was uncharacteristic of horses, but then, this animal was far from a horse.

_"But please, we have lingered long enough, return to the Palace and call me when you have need of me."_

And as easily as that, the animal disappeared, breaking into a ghostly spirit and slipping into the ovum on her hand; the sapphire quickly replaced with amber, and her armor evolving as well, shedding all of its watery characteristics and gaining a more earthy nature. She grinned and skipped out, ready to face anything.

* * *

Everyone that had ever come in contact with the Magic Knight of Water was packed into Clef's study, each with hard set, determined faces, and unreadable eyes. They sat in a circle, ready to face what would come, and Clef closed his eyes and pushed his magic through all of them, digging through the core of Cephiro, past the Keeper of Magic, past Mokona, into the very heart of Cephiro. Once he was there, he anchored his magic, and sent the world an image of those around him, letting it know who its challengers were.

_Thou wish to challenge me? _A powerful voice, sexless, and as old as time itself boomed, but Clef didn't shake or shy away; he stayed strong, and answered.

"Yes," he replied calmly, "For the ending of the Punishments, and for the return of the Water Knight."

_Very well, then those who wish to challenge, will be tested._

_Just as quickly as that, Clef's magic snapped back to him, and he was no longer in his study, but the Sacred Village, in a strange room, decorated in blues and blacks, staring at the back of the most beautiful creature in the world, "Umi," he choked.

* * *

_

"Pull that door shut quietly

_Darling what are you doing_?

We don't have **_time_** for this

I'm **_crazy_**, _what are you then_?

Give me an hour and **_I'll give you your dream_**

Don't make a sound

Hush and listen

Keep your head down, **we're not safe yet**

_Don't make a sound_, and be good for me

'Cause **I know they're waiting**, **_somewhere_** out there

Leave it_, I won't go back_

**We have to do it** 'cause _there's nothing left here_

Don't care, **what do they know**?

I've seen it baby, and I know it's **_real_**

Short time, **_I knew they'd come_**

Are we having **_fun_** or what?"

Frou Frou, Shh…


	15. To Remember Love

A/n: I'm going to be going away for eight days for a national competition for school, and I won't be home until next Monday. I can guarantee an update Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday in that general vacinity. So I hope that's all right. I'm sure all of you will be busy reading the new Harry Potter book anyway, the rest of the world seems to be (grumbles about how she wishes she was famous). Anyhoo, hope you all enjoy, this chapter is extra long, and the next one is the last one! So there we have it folks, talk to you all when I get home! Wish us luck!

Chapter Fifteen: To Remember Love

_"Umi-chan! Umi-chan!" Hikaru threw herself at the doors of the Sacred Village, her face alight with joy, no thought of the test she had to pass. All her focus was on the doors and the lines of Keepers that were streaming out of them; their Punishments finally at an end._

_Frantically, she searched each face, looking everywhere for her blue haired friend, refusing to get disheartened that Umi hadn't been the first one to storm out of the gates. Slowly, the lines of Keepers began to get thinner, and then there were only a few that were milling about inside, packing a little, those who had never cared to leave the Sacred Village, those who were afraid of the outside world._

_Brazenly, she stepped in and closed her eyes, waiting for something to strike, but when nothing did, she ran forward and grabbed the arms of the nearest Keeper, an older man that looked a little startled when she grabbed him, "Excuse me, sir? Where is Umi-Quies?"_

_"Quies?" he cocked his head, "The Keeper of Dreams passed away in her sleep not too long after she was put into the position. Didn't you know that? Mentis and Noctis have been keeping the duties until a new Keeper could be chosen. Why do you ask?"_

_Hikaru's eyes filled with terror, and she took a step backward, tripping over a discarded cart and sprawling onto the perfect cobblestone streets, her hand rising to her mouth in terror. Her ovum glinted in the sun, and the man nodded._

_"The Magic Knight of Fire."_

_She could barely breathe; Umi couldn't be dead. She refused to believe that. Resolution and denial coupled inside her, and she turned and sprinted off toward the Palace, running blindly, screaming for Umi at the top of her lungs. Veneficus intercepted her on the way, pulling her aside, so she was forced to stare into disgustingly sympathetic deep blue eyes, "I'm sorry Hikaru, I really am."_

_"No!" Hikaru screamed. "She can't be dead! We haven't saved her yet! We didn't…" Hikaru stopped and forced herself to remember through the deep fog in her mind. That was right, she was sitting in Clef's study, awaiting some sort of…test. Then, this was it? Her heart leapt into her throat, and a smile curled onto her face. "That's right," she mumbled and turned to grin at Veneficus whose expression was quickly fading. "All right, you lose. I remember. I know that she's alive, and we need to save her, so why don't you just come out and fight me fairly?" Hikaru demanded, more to the sky than to Veneficus._

_The Keeper of Dreams grinned and nodded, clearly the voice of the Will, "Very impressive Fire Knight. I had thou completely trapped in my spell until just now. Very impressive, one down, many more to go."_

Hikaru jumped awake and looked around her curiously; everyone else was in a trance like state, and she decided they must all be in the middle of their own tests. Apprehensively, she pulled a nail to her mouth and begin to nibble on it. Subconsciously, she stopped, Umi's voice her conscious. That made her smile sadly and set her head on her hands to maintain her vigil over the people of Cephiro who battled for the Water Knight and all the Keepers.

* * *

_Lantis, Ferio and __Ascot__ all looked around them nervously. _

_"Why did it bring us here, together?" Ferio asked curiously, but all Lantis and __Ascot__ could supply him with were shrugs._

_"Ah, so here are the brave lovers of the Fire, Wind and Earth Knights," a cruel voice called in the distance, and Silvius swarmed into view. Immediately, all three took fighting stances, ready to destroy an already dead enemy if need be. _

_Silvius laughed cruelly and shook his head at them, "You cannot kill one who is already dead. I am here to ask you all something."_

_"Ask us something?" Ascot's eyes narrowed suspiciously, but Silvius nodded simply and began anyway._

_"I want to know why you would ever want to release the Keepers from their bonds of Punishment. I mean, once they're released Cephiro will be forced to take on more duties, more responsibilities. Do you really trust your people to control their own dreams and nightmares? What if the one who is supposed to control the sun forgets to make it rise one morning? Or what if there is no rain for your crops because the people are angry at one another? Do you wish that kind of havoc to be set upon the people you suffered so long for? Do you trust them so much, in this land controlled by Will, to let them have all power over war?" _

_Ferio shook his head, amazed. He hadn't known that releasing the Keepers of their duty meant that. As far as he knew, it only meant that the Keepers wouldn't be forced to the Floor that he'd heard so much about, but this…He trusted his people, but they were still people; they weren't infallible. They had emotions, and if one of them controlled war? Or what if all of them controlled everything all the time? Free will was highly overrated. _

_Silvius nodded to whatever he saw in Ferio's eyes, and Lantis realized they were about to fail, so he grabbed Ferio's shoulders and plunged into his amber eyes, "Do you want your people to suffer what will happen to Cephiro if their Master Mage falls victim to an indescribable grief?"_

_Ascot took his cue from Lantis and turned to Ferio, "Do you want to look at Fuu every morning, into her eyes full of pain, because one of her best friends is suffering? You don't need to live through another four hundred years of Punishment."_

_"This can all be ended if you simply tell the Will you have faith in your people," Lantis hinted softly, and Ferio nodded and looked Silvius in the eye._

_"I do," he said firmly, and really _felt_ what he was saying. "I do have faith in my people. They survived when the Pillar was destroyed, against all odds, they took their lives into their own hands, and I believe they will overcome this as well."_

Spoken just like a Prince, _Ascot__ smirked, but Silivus wasn't finished yet, "And you, __Ascot__? Once the Water Knight returns, there will be no need for Alliandre anymore, isn't that right? You can save your romance if you just admit that this is a bad idea."_

_"Spare your breath," __Ascot__ stopped him, stepping forward. "I know that Alliandre will be welcomed with open arms here. She is a Magic Knight now, and she stands on her own. I don't doubt that for a minute."_

_The Will was weakening, there was a sort of panic-stricken, yet awe-filled look in Silvius' eye, "And Lantis? Do you so long to wreak havoc on this world that you would release such a great power onto it?"_

_The stone-faced swordsman glared at the creature in front of him, "My father was lost to the Will because of the Punishments of the Keepers, my brother died because of a useless requirement on his love, I served four hundred years of Punishment myself. Yes, I think Cephiro can deal with a little bit of chaos, because in the long run it will come out stronger."_

_Silvius, or what they now recognized as the Will of Cephiro, nodded, "Perhaps the form," it was muttering to itself as it vanished, and all three looked up._

"Was it awful?" Hikaru whispered, but Lantis shook his head while Ferio rubbed his.

"No," Ferio groaned, "just…confusing. I wonder if all that stuff it said was true."

Ascot shrugged, as if pushing away the thoughts that the Will had put into him, "I don't know, but I hope not. I didn't…" he refused to think of it. "We will do what we have to for what we think is right."

The other three nodded in agreement, Hikaru clenching her hands worriedly, but offering them all a weak smile still. They smiled back, just a little more lightly and waited for the next person to awaken.

* * *

_Caldina, Lafarga and Presea spun around in the darkness. "Where are we?" Presea inquired, but Caldina just shook her head. Lafarga paced, searching the gray fog that was slowly turning into a Palace._

_"Wow," Caldina whispered as she stared at the splendor that was the Palace of the Keepers._

_"The Palace of the Keepers," Lafarga mumbled and walked forward, the other two following closely. _

_At the doors, they were met by the Keeper of the Palace, Castellum, "Ah," he wrung his hands impulsively and smiled faintly at them. "We have been expecting you."_

_"Expecting, us?" Caldina pointed to herself, and Castellum nodded. _

_"Oh yes, oh yes, come in, come in, we will be sure to give you treatment fit for a Keeper."_

_"Well, I like the sound of that," Caldina strolled in easily behind the Keeper, but Presea and Lafarga were slightly more wary as they walked inside. _

_Caldina "oo"ed and "ahh"ed at all the beautiful tapestries of different occupations of the Keepers on the walls, never glancing beneath her at the Floor. Lafarga only took one glimpse of it before he had to avert his eyes; and Presea saw less than that. _

_"__Cal__," Presea hissed, but she was too wrapped up in the beautiful sights _above_ ground for her to notice the swirling evil of the Floor of the Palace._

_"Right this way," Castellum instructed, and the three were led to a beautiful suite of rooms that was split into a living area, a small study and two bedrooms. When they walked into the bedrooms, they couldn't help but be taken aback by the majesty of the rooms. _

_In the master bedroom, the ceiling was lined with a beautiful skyscape of a slightly cloudy Cephiran day, the sun still shining brightly, almost as if it was lighting the room. The clouds actually _floated_ across the ceiling, and Presea and Caldina just stared in awe._

_"All the clothes you'll need for your stay are in the wardrobes," Castellum told them, but Lafarga grabbed him before he could duck out._

_"Stay?" he inquired, and Castellum grinned and pointed at Presea and Caldina who were already in the wardrobes and pulling out beautiful silks of exotic colors and cuts. _

_"Wow, Cal, check this out," Presea opened a mahogany jewelry box, and Caldina dropped the dress she was holding to gape at the magnitude of jewels contained in what she'd considered only a medium-sized box. _

_"Why would anyone want to leave this place?" Caldina asked carefully; and Castellum grinned and nodded._

_"It is splendid, is it not? And we provide anything you want, anything at all, as long as it's within your parameters." _

_"Really?" Presea shrieked delightedly, but Lafarga shook his head. _

_"And for you, weapon master, a training facility all day long with an endless supply of competitors, and any weapons you might want to test," Castellum told him, and Lafarga's jaw dropped. Castellum clapped and a large, sharply curved blade appeared in front of him, beautiful black obsidian with precious stones embedded in the hilt. He had always longed to try this weapon, but he'd never had the time in the palace to start training with something else, besides, they were very rare, and not something one could simply magic up. _

_His hands itched to touch the blade, but something told him that if he did, they would all be doomed. Regretfully, he shook his head, and Castellum's smile slid off his face._

_"Come on Lafarga, just try it!" Caldina smacked him on the back, but he refused. "What, are ya crazy?"_

_"No," he whispered, turning his eyes away from the beautiful sword. "No, I just know what's best for Cephiro. We're needed back at the __Cephiran__Palace__, and despite all this luxury, the Keepers are just chained animals. Think __Cal__!" he looked deeply into her eyes. "What is the one thing you can't buy, but the one thing you need more than anything?"_

_"Besides air?" Presea inquired, but Lafarga just shook off the question and forced his eyes into Caldina's._

_"Well, you, of course," she answered as if it was the simplest conclusion in the world. He smiled, still glad to hear it, even after all these years, but made himself get back to his point._

_"The Keepers can't _love_Cal.__ Remember?"_

_Caldina gasped and stepped away from all the fineries of the room, and nodded, remembering, "Umi," she whispered, and Lafarga grabbed her in a tight embrace, smiling at the wit she had but no one seemed to credit her for. _

_"Presea, the Floor," was all he had to say to the master craftsman before she too, was convinced, and all three turned to Castellum. _

_"We're ready to go home."_

_He sighed, almost annoyed, "Fine fine," he snapped, and the three of them appeared again on the floor of Clef's study._

"Damn," Caldina whispered as she pulled herself out of the test, "I really liked those clothes."

Lafarga grabbed her shoulders warmly, and she looked up at him, smiling again, "But I love you more," she consented, and he reached down and kissed her gently.

"So…" Presea nodded to Hikaru without her having to finish the question, and Hikaru sighed and looked around the room.

"That leaves, Fuu-chan, Alliandre, Blade and…Clef."

* * *

"Something's happening," Veneficus' eyes shot open wide, a bright gray, the color of fright.

Umi gripped his hand firmly and forced herself to meet his strange eyes, which softened into a delicate green-gray as she looked into them, "They _will_ succeed, and then you will be able to try your magic for the first time since you went to the Floor. Only, this time, there will be no more Floor. Think of what it will be like."

Veneficus smiled, more at her touch than at her words. If they succeeded, him loving a Magic Knight wouldn't be against protocol, unfortunately, the one that had won his heart was off-limits. He supposed there was no way he could fight the Will to win an unrequited love, but he wanted to see her happy, strangely enough, even if it was with Clef. At least he would be comforted in his magic, and he could finally leave the Sacred Village without fear of temptation. He would be…free. And the confidence glowing in her eyes only convinced him further that they would be successful, and what a day it would be.

* * *

_"Fuu, I can't believe you," Umi was crying in this dream, and she wasn't allowed to cry. "How did you fail, Fuu, how?" she demanded, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm scared; I don't want to go to the Floor. Tell Clef to wait for me, please."_

_"Umi-san?" Fuu whispered unbelievingly. How had they failed? As far as she knew, she hadn't even taken the test yet. There was no way, but then…what if it had simply weighed her heart and said her Will wasn't enough to complete the task? Was this all her fault? It had to be, Umi wouldn't come to her if it wasn't._

_"Fuu, I don't want to make you guilty, I just…I'm scared Fuu, I'm scared."_

_"Umi-san, please, don't cry," Fuu begged gently. "We'll get you out, somehow. We will, Hikaru and Clef and I. We'll get you out, I promise."_

_Umi laughed through her tears and shook her head, "It's too late Fuu; Veneficus gave me my sentence today. I will go to the Floor until a replacement is born, and then I will train her, and then I will be Banished and go mad."_

_"No, Umi-san!" Fuu screamed as Umi disappeared into the darkness. She chased after her, refusing to let her go. "No! I didn't get to take the test Umi-san!" She had never failed a test in her life, and she wasn't going to say that she had failed this one. Not when so much was at stake._

_"Don't chase me Fuu, it was just a dream," Umi murmured as she backed her way out of the dream that she had created._

_"Don't say that!" Fuu shrieked. "It wasn't a dream! Umi-san, you need to be strong! We're going to save you, and we're going to save Alianore! I won't give up until we do! I won't fail this test!" _

_She ran into a light bulb, "Because I'm taking it now," she added in a soft voice, and the image that was Umi clarified and rushed upon her. _

_"Too clever," Umi, in a sexless voice grumbled, and Fuu grinned triumphantly._

_"I won't let myself fail a test I haven't taken. I know that Umi needs us, and I won't let anyone stop us from saving her. I love her like a sister, and the Keepers need us just as greatly as she. We protect Cephiro, _all_ of Cephiro."_

_"Very noble Wind Knight, thou will make a good Princess someday," and just as simply as that, the dream sequence ended, and Fuu jumped awake._

"What just happened?" she demanded while wiping tears away. Ferio crawled over to her, being careful not to disturb any of those still in trance and swiped them away for her.

"Fuu-chan!" Hikaru shouted happily and threw her arms around the Wind Knight.

"It tried to make me think that I'd already failed, but I knew I couldn't have," Fuu told them, and Hikaru laughed and nodded, pulling back from the hug.

"Of course not, Fuu-chan can't fail anything," she nodded promptly, scrounging a laugh from everyone before they all pulled back into reflective silence, wondering who would be the next to join them. All were thinking the same question, _will we win?

* * *

_

"So this is what it's like to die," _a voice stated calmly in his mind, and Blade leapt forward._

_"No," he whispered, trying to throw his magic around her in lasso form to pull her back._

"Blade, let me go, you can't save me," _she grumbled when his magic found her falling body and pulled her back to him._

_"Shut up Alianore," he growled through tears. "I'm going to save you, and you're going to have to deal with it."_

"Just let me be with him, Blade; he's been waiting for me."

_His heart stopped, and for a second the rope faltered. Why shouldn't he let her go? If she wanted to be with her husband, it was only right, yet…that was thousands of years ago. How could he have known when he fell in love with her? Was it fair that he had given up his powers for her, knowing he would go mad just for a few spare seconds with her in his arms? None of it was fair, none of it was right, and he was damned if he was going to let her go. Tightening his magic on her, he pulled her closer and closer._

"Blade, don't be selfish," _she snapped, but he refused to listen, only drew her closer and closer. _"How many times do I need to tell you I can't love you? Now we're not Keepers, but it's no different than any of the times before, only for different reasons!"

_Again, he stopped; his magic loosening. It would be so easy to let her fall; he was already sick with her words and the effort he was putting into keeping her alive. Why shouldn't he let her go, if she didn't love him?_

But she does love you, and you know it,_ something in the core of his soul prodded, "You have a son," he told her, "a son that might want to get to know his mother now that he has a chance."_

_That struck a chord in him; she had a son. A son who'd spoken to him before, about a test that would be harder than he thought to keep his mind on his love. Then…_

_With the last of his energy, he pulled her body to the surface of consciousness, ready to throw up in the effort, spent completely, but knowing he did the right thing._

_"Very well, former Keeper."_

Blade coughed loudly, choking on his revulsion as he pulled himself to a sitting position from where he'd fainted in the Master Mage's study, "Alianore," he straightened, causing another coughing fit.

"It's all right," the Magic Knight of Wind soothed, wrapping her Healing Winds around him, so he could at least see straight. "She'll be okay as long as the other two get out of this all right."

"Other two?" Blade looked around and saw that everyone else was awake except for the Master Mage and the new Earth Knight. "It's terrible," he muttered, looking empathetically at Clef, who he knew was fighting his own battle.

"I know, but they're strong," Fuu smiled, and Blade was comforted by that smile, comforted enough that he could at least settle down enough to continue their waiting.

* * *

_"I'm sorry, Earth Knight," __Kirin__ appeared from his hiding spot in the woods, and Alliandre looked at him curiously._

_"Sorry, about what?"_

_"Well, they're going to have to send you home now. There were never supposed to be four Knights."_

_"Home? Does that mean that we saved them?" Alliandre was filled with a sense of pride and fear when __Kirin__ nodded. _

_"At some great sacrifice."_

_Now, that was interesting, "Sacrifice?" _

_The Unicorn came forward to nibble Alliandre's shirt gently, "You have to go home, so you won't upset the fragile balance, and I, well…I will fade away."_

_Alliandre's eyes flew open in surprise and horror, "What? That can't happen? You're part of Cephiro! You were born here! I understand if I have to go home, but…not you! You have to stay here! You can't fade away!"_

_Kirin__'s open green eyes pierced through her soul as he tried to explain, "I'm sorry, Earth Knight, things simply weren't meant to be this way. Perhaps, if you had failed instead, things would be different; there would only be three Knights then, but…the Water Knight is coming home, and Cephiro has no need of either of us any longer."_

_"If we had failed?" Alliandre thought of the possibilities. If they had failed, then she could stay here, with __Ascot__, in this beautiful land, with __Kirin__, and her new friends. She wouldn't have to go back to the orphanage, to the places of horror and a possible life of disaster. She would have everything she needed and wanted, if they had only failed. But…the pain in Hikaru and Fuu's eyes still haunted her. There were too many things that were wrong here for her to consider it beautiful, as long as there were the Punishments. It didn't seem right, but if she and __Kirin__ were forced to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of Cephiro, it was only necessary, and she _had_ pledged her life to Cephiro. Resolutely, she took __Kirin__'s beautiful white head in her hands and smiled sadly, "I know, but I'm glad we didn't fail, __Kirin__. There is too much wrong in this system for me to regret destroying it. I'm glad we did, and I'm glad I got to know you and the others. I'm glad that I was even here for a moment; even if I won't remember it."_

_"Brave, and stubborn too, they were right in deeming you an Earth Knight," Kirin's voice completely changed, but Alliandre didn't have enough time to ask the question before she was falling through a rift in the magic. _She landed promptly back in her own body, surrounded by questioning eyes.

"Did you pass?" Hikaru blurted out, and Alliandre smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I think I did, no matter what that means."

* * *

_"Gods, Umi, I thought I'd lost you," Clef choked, but Umi just continued to look at him, a growing expression of horror in her blue eyes._

_"Clef, I didn't think you were coming back for me. You took so long; I didn't know what was going to happen with us. So I…I gave up on you."_

_"You what?" Clef's heart stopped beating. He took a deep breath and forced some semblance of moisture back into his mouth, "Well, I'm here now, here to take you home, where you belong."_

_"I can't go back," she said simply, turning away from him, her long blue hair whipping around her shoulders viciously. "I have duties, responsibilities."_

_"Don't be ridiculous," he snapped, growing frightened. "You don't owe these people anything Umi. You need to come back with me; you're free."_

_"I don't want to go back with you," she turned and met his eyes, turning his whole soul to ice. "Veneficus promised himself to me, and I accepted. I'm sorry Clef; you were too long."_

_"Veneficus?" the word barely made it out of his lips before the Keeper of Magic strolled through the door, planting a light kiss on his lover's forehead, making her giggle softly, and smile the same smile he thought was reserved for him. _I saved her, I destroyed the Punishments so we could be together, and this is how she repays me? _He couldn't describe the bitterness that began to boil in his heart, consuming soul and flesh alike._ I can't believe that she would…I should have failed; I never should have come here. _He was going to run from the room; he was going to turn his eyes away from her, but he couldn't. He couldn't leave her here; there was something in his heart, he guessed it was a piece of his love, that wouldn't let him allow Veneficus to win. He'd backed down from too many things in his life, for as much power as he had, he'd been a coward in too many situations, and he wasn't going to live to regret this one._

_Seizing Umi in his arms, he kissed her passionately, trying to remind her of their love, and when she pulled away, unfazed, he knew that this wasn't his Umi, "You're not Umi," he stated flatly, and she cocked her head at him in a very Umi-esque way, but he wasn't convinced. "The Umi I knew would have waited, the Umi I knew would have been affected by that. The Umi I _loved_ still loves me somewhere, and Cephiro be damned if I can't have her back. Do you hear me?" he looked Veneficus in the eyes, glowering intensely, and the Keeper of Magic laughed and faded away._

_"Fine, Master Mage of Cephiro, fine, all thine Wills are strong, and thou has proved to be as strong as thy acclaim. Go now and retrieve your prize from the __Sacred__Village__, and I will see to the others."_

_"No," Clef told the Will frankly, and it seemed taken aback, even in Umi's body. "I love Umi, and I'll be glad to have her in my arms again, but I didn't fight only for her, none of us did. I want to make sure you're going to treat the Keepers fairly."_

_"And what does thou propose, Mage?" the Will seemed almost amused, if an ageless, sexless, emotionless being could be amused._

_"Let those who wish to stay in the Village stay, but let them come and go as they will. Destroy the Floor, let Banishment be more of a ceremony than a Punishment. If a Keeper can't handle his or her job he or she should be able to give it up, without fear of madness. Destroy the madness of the Keepers, and as for the rest of Cephiro, the Knights, the Prince, the Master Mage, we should be able to do as all the other civilians of Cephiro do – love in peace."_

_The Will of Cephiro in his lover's body sighed deeply, contemplating, chewing on the idea, then nodded, "Very well, Master Mage, wise man of Cephiro, this shall be granted. Now, leave me, and do not bother me again."_

Growing anticipation rose in Clef's chest as he fell through the darkness, his magic snapping back onto him, a feeling of relief coming heavy upon him. And then, he was in his study again, met with a round of applause, hearty cheers and a more than a few tears. They were safe, the Keepers were free, and Umi was his again.


	16. To Cephiro

Wow…I'm so sorry…well; this was legitimate, really this time! It's college application time everyone and I've been busy with that…sighs who would've thought that 500 word essays could be so frickin' hard? I was all "five hundred words, psh, I can spit that out in ten minutes" WRONG! Anyway, that's where I've been, I'm sorry I'm sorry, I really really am. But I'm FINISHED! All my applications are in (all the ones that matter anyway) and I'll be back to writing as much as I can with school and everything. This is the end of this one thank the GODS! And I'll be finishing up Legend of the Swords and Same Rhyme too. I've decided that before I post my new story I'm going to finish it (I'm half way there) that way there are NO waits, unless my computer crashes, which it has a tendency to do. So, once again, I'm very sorry, I hope this isn't awful, because it's not edited and I don't really remember what was going on in this story so hopefully it's not too off-track, heh…Anyway, read and review!

Chapter Sixteen: To Cephiro

"It can't be," Veneficus' voice was cracked as he pulled his magic to the surface and let it trickle off his fingers, rainbow colors that sparked around them. Things in the room hovered and soared through the air, but there was no weight of Punishment, there was no pressing for him to confess his sins. There was nothing but freedom. "They cannot…"

Umi's hands shook in anticipation, "They have," she whispered. "They have!"

"Well then, let us go and meet our saviors," Veneficus offered her his arm, and she grinned and took it; her whole body leaping in pleasure. Soon, Clef would be there, and she would be in his arms again. Soon, Fuu and Hikaru would be there, and they would be so excited to see her, with her armor in their hands…She stopped. _I'm no longer a Knight_, the thought struck her hard as the realization came on. She was no longer a Magic Knight of Cephiro; her title had been given to someone else. So was she still a Keeper? Would she still have to bear this detested responsibility?

"We will see," Veneficus whispered gently as they walked to the front of the Palace. He pet Umi's arm, and she calmed almost magically. Veneficus smirked to himself, and she glared.

"Use your magic easily, don't you?" she snapped, and he smiled like an innocent schoolboy, which made her glare slip off and a joyous laugh penetrate her lips. She was free!

"Veneficus! Veneficus!" Castellum threw himself at the Keeper of Magic's feet, "Please Veneficus, explain this to me!"

Veneficus looked at the terrified Keeper, and then at Umi, who was smiling softly to herself, "Explain…?"

"He's outside Veneficus," Umi told him gently, and Veneficus' eyes widened. The Keeper of the Palace _was_ outside.

"Please, Punish me, if you must," Castellum was to the point of tears now, shaking and stuttering. "I c-can't f-feel the p-power anymore Veneficus."

"Hush Castellum," Veneficus soothed and grabbed the Keeper by his shoulders, hoisting him up from the ground. "The Punishments have been ended; the Master Mage and the Magic Knights have successfully defeated the Will."

Castellum's eyes flew from fear to glee in half a second, then back again, "But, what does this mean for the Keepers? I've been here for a thousand years Veneficus, all my family does not remember me, if they're even still live. What does this mean for us?"

Veneficus shook his head wearily, "I do not know; we are going to meet the Master Mage now, so he can tell us the stipulations to this new agreement with the Will."

"Yes, yes, that is a very good idea," Castellum mumbled to himself, nodding.

"Come with us," Umi offered, and Castellum looked at her like she had three heads.

"But…"

"You may leave now," she continued, and a gasp threw itself from his throat. For him, it was one thing to leave the Palace, and a completely different thing to step _into_ the Sacred Village. He hadn't been there in over eight hundred years since his master had taken Banishment as a Punishment.

Carefully, Castellum looked around him and began the slow descent from the Palace steps, shuddering and wincing at every one, sure that he would be tossed to the Floor almost immediately; but the Punishment never came, and when he'd descended the last step to the cobblestone streets of the Sacred Village, elation spread onto his narrow face. He turned back to Veneficus and Umi and leapt into the air, screaming his triumph.

"So this is what it means to be free," Veneficus was whispering as he and Umi made their more subtle descent.

Umi nodded and hugged a little closer to his arm, which made him remember the half Magic Knight, half Keeper on his arm and wonder what was going through her mind right now. _Do I even have to ask? _He groaned to himself, _the one who did all this, the Master Mage, Clef._ And indeed, Umi did look like she was ready to burst in excitement, every feature glowed; she was radiant in that moment, her blue hair swinging over her shoulders carelessly, the wispy light blue dress she'd donned clinging close to her frame, even the cloak that once carried so much weight seemed to be worn lightly now. The bags that had formed under her eyes from nights of struggle with newfound powers seemed to have vanished; there was nothing that wasn't beautiful about her, and she wasn't his, could never be his.

But he couldn't feel sorry for himself, and he knew he couldn't. There was a new trickle of energy around not only him, but all the Keepers. Everywhere he looked, people were rejoicing in their new powers, Bestia was nearby, cooing to Umi's horse, holding its head in his hands, trembling in appreciation of the beauty of the creature he protected. Even young Noctis had peered out of his Palace rooms to enjoy the sunlight that had been stolen from him. All around him was sheer happiness, and the thought made new magic bubble to the surface, and he rose his hands and clapped, so a huge rainbow spread out across the sky, more brilliant than anything that had ever been created, reflecting the feelings of those around him.

Umi grinned at him and nodded her silent approval, and that was all he needed for that moment, he would deal with his feelings later, after she'd left his sight, but for now, he had an entire village full of elated people, and he wasn't about to let grief get to him, not this time.

Clef's fingers shook around his staff.

"Guru, perhaps we should ride," Hikaru started, but he silenced her with a glare, and she stopped her protests.

He knew he was too weak to attempt a transportation spell, but he couldn't imagine being forced to ride the entire way; he couldn't go another minute without seeing Umi, and the Knights felt the same, he was sure.

"Perhaps, I can help," a quiet voice called from the doorway, a voice that sounded almost as weak as theirs, and his head shot up to meet the ghostly gray eyes of the former Keeper of Dreams.

"Alianore," Blade flew forward and brought the girl into his arms, kissing every part of her weary body, and she smiled and received the embrace graciously. "I thought…oh gods, thank you," he mumbled in between kisses, and she grinned and met his lips, then pulled away and turned to address her son.

"We will speak later?"

Lantis gave a firm nod that promised a long talk, but not an unpleasant one, and there was a bit of a smile playing on his lips. They seemed to understand one another already.

"Blade and I are still connected to the Sacred Village; we will get you there," Alianore continued, turning her eyes on Clef, who smiled gratefully and acquiesced.

"Are you sure you're all right to travel?" Blade asked, concern written all over his face. "I mean…you seem very weak."

She kissed him swiftly and nodded, "I'm sure, and lover, don't be hesitant, I'm not going anywhere."

His eyes flew open, and he looked at her curiously.

"You think that what I suffered in the madness wasn't some of what you suffered in the Will?" she laughed, a warm laugh that was not as hollow as it had been in the past. They were all beginning to recover.

"I didn't…" Blade stopped himself from admitting his deepest fears in front of a room full of strangers and gripped Alianore's hand tighter, the fear all but vanishing from his eyes. He looked up at Clef and the Knight's resolutely and nodded, "We will take you three."

Alliandre stepped forward hesitantly, her head bowed, and her eyes sheltered by her hair.

"Four," Alianore quickly amended, and Allianore smiled gratefully.

"What will happen Clef?" Hikaru inquired gently, and all eyes turned to him, so he had to remain his calm despite the biting feeling inside that he _had_ to get to Umi. He pushed it away for the moment, calming his turbulent temper and sighed heavily.

"I don't know Hikaru; I know that Umi is still a Magic Knight of Water, but I also know that she is still a Keeper, and there are many new things that the Will has granted, but being both wasn't an option, I think. She will have to decide."

Alianore shook her head again and turned to Blade, who nodded his agreement, "We will resume our old posts, free of burdens, it is the only life that we know, and we enjoyed its benefits while detesting its Punishments. I know that Umi will not want the job, her soul is too pure for such matters."

Clef's eyes filled with wonder as he turned and looked at the frail girl who was glowing despite her obvious lack of strength, "Thank you," was all he could manage, but yet, it seemed somehow appropriate, and she nodded formally before she and Blade linked hands, drawing the other four into their circle. All six clasped hands and focused their energy on Alianore who before long was _truly_ glowing. Nimbly, she pulled away from the circle, holding them all together with the bonds of magic they'd given her, clapped her hands, and they vanished, leaving the others to await the return of the Water Knight.

In the Sacred Village, streams of people were pouring out, ready to sniff the fresh air, but wary to go further than a few yards away from the safety of the Village, creating a pool of Keepers that was almost impenetrable.

Clef stared at the Keepers with dismay, searching in vain for Umi, wondering where she could be, and old fears came back to haunt him. Where was she? Why wasn't she here, waiting for him? Could it be… he stopped the questions immediately; it was that mentality that would have lost the battle against the Will. He had utmost faith in Umi, he had proved it; he couldn't let it stop him now.

"Alianore, Blade? But, it can't be!" Bestia stepped forward, taking the shape of a familiar face in a sea of confusion.

"So you have brought him," Mentis stepped beside Bestia and smiled, nodding at Clef. "Perhaps you, Master Mage, should go on ahead. She is at the Palace with Veneficus, they are waiting for you, both have a few questions they want answered, I have no doubts."

"I- of course," Clef stumbled as Bestia pushed the reins of Umi's horse into his hands, and he quickly hoisted himself into the saddle. "Of course," he mumbled to himself, questions racing through his mind. She was at the Palace, with _Veneficus?_ And they had questions? What questions could they possibly have for him?

He set his jaw, narrowed his brows, forced himself to think on Umi, and only Umi. He was here, she was free, they could be together, and they _would_ be together; if it was only in his dying breath, he would have her in his arms again, wrath of the unchained Keeper of Magic or no. He would not let her slip from his live fingers again.

Umi's eyes soared toward Clef who was riding toward them at almost a full gallop. It was as if a magnet connected their two hearts, drawing them both forward with uncharted magnitude. Her breath stuck in her throat as he jumped off the horse, not even slowing, his robes swinging around his feet while he took the steps two at a time and stopped at a dead halt in front of she and Veneficus, staring in horror at something just beneath Umi's line of vision. Slowly, she dropped her eyes and saw that her lover's eyes were focused intently on her interlocked arm which was draped lazily about Veneficus', giving the semblance of a natural occurrence. As if it were made of hot coals, Umi ripped from Veneficus' grasps and threw herself at Clef, knocking away his breath and wrenching tears from his crystalline eyes. There was no doubt in that embrace, and all his insecurities faded away as he closed his eyes and buried his face in the sweet smell of Umi's powder blue hair. Veneficus nodded stiffly and pulled his form straighter, pushing his nose to the sky in a reluctant acceptance. This was how it was to be from the beginning; he had known it all along. He had his freedom, and that was more than enough to forgive the Mage who had stolen a great light from his life, especially when she wasn't his to begin with. She had always and would always, belong to Clef.

"I was so scared I'd lost you," Clef found himself whispering into the locks of his Water Knight, and her eyes slammed upward and met his in a combination of passionate anger and the most tender love he'd ever witnessed in human eyes.

"Don't be ridiculous," she pursed her lips and gave him a thorough glare before he tilted her head back and kissed her as she'd never been kissed before, making sure that every ounce of breath had been stolen from her body before he let her go, both trembling.

"I love you, Water Knight," he mumbled heatedly into her cheek when they broke away, and she shook her head, taking a minute to regain her composure before she voiced her protest.

"No longer Water Knight, Keeper of Dreams," she looked sadly back to the ivory confines of the Palace of the Keepers, and Veneficus sent her a sympathetic glance. She would leave, of course, to continue her duties at the Palace, and he would stay, but they would have to be in close contact, when the cleanest wound is always one that is cut sharply away. This would not be a clean wound for Veneficus it seemed, when the irritant was always there, the lemon to the gouge of rejection.

"I believe," Quies called as she jogged up the steps of the Palace, Noctis faithfully on her heels, "that's _my_ job."

"Umi-chan!"

"Umi-san!"

Umi grinned and turned to embrace her two friends, no longer compatriots, Alliandre trailing them bashfully.

After Umi had released her friends she turned to Allianore and asked her the question with her eyes, then looked kindly on Alliandre who didn't seem the picture of the Water Knight. She was much more reserved, introverted, close to Umi in some ways, determined, stubborn it seemed, from the strong set of her jaw, yet much quieter, softer, not the stormy sea that Umi was. For a second she felt a tang of disappointment in Selece's choice for a Water Knight, then decided against the emotion and buried it, reminding herself that she was bias and she could never replace herself in her own mind. Squinting slightly at the strange circle of thoughts, she forced herself to focus back on Allianore who was speaking once more.

"Umi, Selece refused to take Alliandre as the Magic Knight of Water," Allianore began softly, and Umi's eyes bulged.

"What?" she roared. "How could he? He _needs_ to, what will Cephiro do without a Magic Knight of Water?"

"Dearest," Clef whispered to her, smiling the warmest smile he'd ever smiled at her as he gripped her hand tightly, feeling she'd need the support in a moment. "He never _had_ to, because she was taken as the Magic Knight of the Earth, meaning _you_ are still the Water Knight, and Allianore, is still the Keeper of Dreams."

Umi spluttered for only a second before Fuu and Hikaru were gesturing toward her mount. Attached to the saddlebags, was her armor and ovum, glittering brightly in the midday sun.

"Seriously?"

When they nodded, a laugh burst from her lips, which erupted into a fit of squeals and giggles from all of the girls, Alliandre included, the four jumping up and down as if they were all old friends, bringing her easily into their fold. The others watched, bemused and bewitched by the strange bond between them, before Umi stepped forward to hand Allianore her old cloak, though with less of the weight it once bore, and as the Keeper of Dreams pulled the light piece of silk over her shoulders, she sighed in relief as the last of the madness faded from her body and she was able to turn and embrace the love of her life – finally complete. With the same air of completeness, Umi donned her armor once more, drew her sword and reached it toward the heavens, the picture of freedom. "To freedom!" she shouted.

"To friendship!" Hikaru echoed, drawing her own sword.

"To love!" Fuu's sword quickly joined the others.

"To Cephiro!" Alliandre's strong voice entered into a perfect harmony with the other four, and in an eruption of power and magic, the weight of Cephiro shifted, the Will had made its finally judgment – the days of Punishment were over.

Fin

That's a wrap! Keep your eyes peeled for a new story that I solemnly promise will be updated as faithfully as my computer allows (it's been in repair for about a week, they just fixed the internet connection this morning). Now, onto my favorite part, the thank yous!

RaevanDawn - sorry it took me so long to update all the time :'(, but thanks for sticking it out to the end! I hope this doesn't disappoint you

Silvercats - You know, reviews keep me going at two o'clock in the morning when I feel this obligation to update but don't have anything on paper, and seeing a faithful reviewer is just the inspiration I need sometimes - thanks.

Shimmering Rose Petals - thanks for not abandoning me; I know it would have been easy with how long I've disappeared for...

Shy-Lil-Dreamer - I know it was confusing in parts, I hope everything wrapped up nicely at the end, if not, feel free to email me a complaint . Thanks so much for staying true to this story, it probably wouldn't have existed otherwise

Blue Angel Samui - always a pleasure getting an email or a review from one of the best, good luck on your story, I hope to see an end of it someday

angel w1ng - You've been there since the beginning, I hope my stories are only getting better, not worse, and if they're getting worse, thanks for at least humoring me . You're awesome

There are so many others I'd like to thank, but I just don't have the time, and I know you'd be angry if I didn't get this up. Basically thank you to everyone who read/reviewed, and I really hope I didn't disappoint you. The next story will be very angsty, so be prepared for that and some real thought provokers, I'm trying to do something a lil' different with this one...until then...thank you so much and continue to provide me joy through your inspiring and heart-warming reviews. I don't know where I'd be without you guys!


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